My life is a veritable tsunami of regret and shame, but it seems I am not alone. A marketing prof at Northwestern and a colleague from University of Illinois have published a study that shows what sort of regrets linger in the hearts and minds of the American public. The most common regrets for people are romantic, with 44% of the female respondents reporting that they regretted romantic choices they made (and DIDN’T make). The lower percentage of romantic regret among men brings that down quite a bit, but it is still the leading category by a long shot. The press release points out that, unlike past studies, this one did not rely on responses just from college students, which is often a source of result-skew, so it should be better representative of the population as a whole.
Meanwhile, researchers at Tel Aviv University have been working with Google to develop a “regret” algorithm that could help computer software predict better outcomes for future efforts. Like not sleeping with that heavy metal drummer with the sleeve tattoos, or not buying an Italian sports car, or not eating that fourth slice of cheesecake. If computers actually did any of those things. Unlike some people.
