# The Role of Controllability and Foreseeability in Children's Counterfactual Emotions

## TL;DR

This study explores how children's emotions about past events change as they learn to focus on things they can control.

## Contribution

It shows that children under 8 focus more on uncontrollable aspects of negative events, unlike older children.

## Key findings

- Younger children (4–7 years) felt more sadness about uncontrollable or unforeseeable aspects of negative events.
- Children aged 8–9 began to show stronger sadness toward controllable or foreseeable aspects of events.
- The ability to focus on functional counterfactuals develops relatively late in childhood.

## Abstract

Counterfactual emotions such as regret may aid future decision‐making by encouraging people to focus on controllable features of personal past events. However, it remains unclear when children begin to preferentially focus on controllable features of such events. Across two studies, Australian 4–9‐year‐olds (N = 336, 168 females; data collected during 2021–2022) completed tasks that led to positive or negative personal outcomes, and then reported their emotions toward different aspects of these tasks. In both studies, younger children unexpectedly reported stronger sadness toward uncontrollable or unforeseeable aspects of negative events, and only by 8–9 years did many children report stronger sadness toward controllable or foreseeable aspects. The tendency to focus on more functional counterfactuals may therefore emerge relatively late in development.