Second Thoughts About Decision Reversibility An Empirical Overview

People generally expect that having the opportunity to reverse a decision contributes to the quality of decision-making. However, previous research has unequivocally shown that reversible decisions actually yield lower levels of post-choice satisfaction and higher levels of regret than irreversible decisions. Only recently, research has begun to investigate the underlying processes explaining these counterintuitive and detrimental consequences of decision reversibility. In the present paper, we will review and integrate this research and distinguish a number of important cognitive and motivational consequences of decision (ir)reversibility. With this paper, we aim to inspire future research into the discrepancy between people's wish for reversibility on the one hand and their need for irreversibility on the other.