Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
9-2003
Abstract
When individuals choose future activities on the basis of their past experiences, what guides those choices? The present study compared students' predicted, on-line, and remembered spring-break experiences, as well as the influence of these factors on students' desire to take a similar vacation in the future. Predicted and remembered experiences were both more positive—and, paradoxically, more negative—than on-line experiences. Of key importance, path analyses revealed that remembered experience, but neither on-line nor anticipated experience, directly predicted the desire to repeat the experience. These results suggest that although on-line measures may be superior to retrospective measures for approximating objective experience, retrospective measures may be superior for predicting choice.
Keywords
activity choices, experiences, choice prediction
Discipline
Personality and Social Contexts | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Psychological Science
Volume
14
Issue
5
First Page
520
Last Page
524
ISSN
1467-9280
Identifier
10.1111/1467-9280.03455
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
Wirtz, Derrick, Kruger, Justin, SCOLLON, Christie N., & DIENER, Ed.(2003). What to Do on Spring Break? The Role of Predicted, On-line, and Remembered Experience in Future Choice. Psychological Science, 14(5), 520-524.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/929
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.03455