Scale Overview & Construct
6-item scale measuring regret and disappointment following a decision or life event, and the degree to which the outcome is attributed to personal choice versus uncontrollable circumstances.
Purpose & Measurement Objectives
Instrument Specifications
Academic Citation & Instrument Provenance
When referencing this instrument in research, academic theses, or clinical institutional audits, please cite the original author publication:
Governance, Boundaries & Ethical Use
Imported from the OpenScales open item-bank project. This specific digital implementation has not been independently clinically validated by PsiQ — scores are for self-reflection, research, and educational purposes only, and are not a diagnosis. The source instrument also includes a 7th forced-choice item ("Things would have gone better if...", choosing between a personal-choice or external-circumstance attribution) that is categorical rather than a magnitude rating — excluded here since it does not contribute to a summed severity score.
License: CC BY 4.0. Citation: Buchanan, J., Summerville, A., Lehmann, J., & Reb, J. (2016). The Regret Elements Scale: Distinguishing the affective and cognitive components of regret. Judgment and Decision Making, 11(3), 275-286 (companion Regret and Disappointment measure). This is not a diagnostic tool.