Although gratitude has received increasing attention from positive psychology researchers in recent years, few studies have examined the benefits of gratitude in decision making. In the present research we explored the effect of gratitude on regret, a decision-making-specific negative emotion. Across five studies (N = 738), the results revealed that gratitude reduced regret in decision-making, and past-focus was the underlying mechanism. The results of Studies 1, 2 and 3 consistently showed that gratitude reduced regret in decision-making. Studies 4 and 5 provided a potential explanation, demonstrating that temporal focus was the mechanism underlying the effect of gratitude on regret. These results indicate the benefits of gratitude in decision-making, suggesting a need to investigate why gratitude enhances well-being.

尽管近年来感恩越来越受到积极心理学研究人员的关注，但很少有研究研究感恩在决策中的好处。在本研究中，我们探讨了感恩对后悔的影响，后悔是一种特定于决策的负面情绪。跨越五项研究（N = 738），结果表明感恩减少了决策中的后悔，而过去的关注是潜在的机制。研究 1、2 和 3 的结果一致表明，感恩可以减少决策中的后悔。研究 4 和 5 提供了一个潜在的解释，表明时间焦点是感恩对后悔影响的潜在机制。这些结果表明感恩在决策中的好处，表明有必要研究为什么感恩会增强幸福感。