Writing about regret made students want a flu shot more, but not get one

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   263 students at a US university who had not had a flu shot that year. Most were women, and they were about 20 on average. 89 wrote about regret, 88 answered questions and 86 just read facts.

2. 02

   What they did

   In one online session, everyone read about the flu and the flu shot. One group wrote why they might regret skipping the shot if they later got the flu. Another group answered six questions about how much they would regret it. The third group just read the facts.

3. 03

   What happened

   Students who wrote about regret wanted the shot more for their own reasons than the group that just read. The gap was small. Answering the regret questions made no difference. Neither group planned to get the shot more. A few months later, about 36 in 100 writers said they got the shot, against 32 in 100. That was not a clear difference.

What the study found

1. HelpedMotivation

   Students who wrote why they would regret no flu shot wanted one more for their own reasons than readers.

   • Action: Picture your future selftested

   Randomised trial of 263 US college students without a flu shot · vs the same flu facts with no regret task · they rated themselves

2. No differenceMotivation

   Writing about regret did not make students plan to get a flu shot more than just reading the facts.

   • Action: Picture your future selftested

   Randomised trial of 263 US college students without a flu shot · vs the same flu facts with no regret task · they rated themselves

3. No differenceGoals

   Students who wrote about regret were no more likely to get a flu shot in the next few months.

   • Action: Picture your future selftested

   Randomised trial of 263 US college students without a flu shot · vs the same flu facts with no regret task · they rated themselves

Source