Disappointment

Disappointment (1882), by Julius LeBlanc Stewart

Disappointment is the feeling of dissatisfaction that follows the failure of expectations or hopes[1] to manifest. Similar to regret, it differs in that a person who feels regret focuses primarily on the personal choices that contributed to a poor outcome, while a person feeling disappointment focuses on the outcome itself.[2] It is a source of psychological stress.[3] The study of disappointment—its causes, impact, and the degree to which individual decisions are motivated by a desire to avoid it—is a focus in the field of decision analysis,[2][4] as disappointment is, along with regret, one of two primary emotions involved in decision-making.[5]

  1. ^ State Home and Training School, Mich, Michigan. Lapeer (1932). Staff Papers, 1932. the University of Michigan. p. 31.
  2. ^ a b Bell, David E. (January 1985). "Putting a premium on regret". Management Science. 31 (1): 117–20. doi:10.1287/mnsc.31.1.117. JSTOR 2631680.
  3. ^ Ma, Lybi (2004-03-29). "Down But Not Out". Psychology Today.
  4. ^ van Dijk, Wilco W.; Zeelenberg, Marcel; van der Pligt, Joop (August 2003). "Blessed are those who expect nothing: Lowering expectations as a way of avoiding disappointment" (PDF). Journal of Economic Psychology. 24 (4): 505–16. doi:10.1016/S0167-4870(02)00211-8.
  5. ^ Wilco W. van Dijk; Marcel Zeelenberg (December 2002). "Investigating the appraisal patterns of regret and disappointment". Motivation and Emotion. 26 (4): 321–31. doi:10.1023/A:1022823221146. S2CID 55491643.