A survey of athletes’ counterfactual thinking: Precursors, prevalence, and consequences

Characterised by its competition and potential for narrow margins of victory and defeat, sport may be one environment in which imagining what might have been (or counterfactual thinking) may be common. This study examined the prevalence, characteristics and consequences of counterfactual thinking in a sample of 217 athletes. Counterfactual thoughts were experienced regularly by the majority of participants (88 per cent) and tended to be elicited when participants failed to meet their performance expectations by a large margin. In addition, participants were more likely to imagine how things could have been better as opposed to worse and, when undoing past events, focussed on things that they themselves had done. Moreover counterfactual thinking was associated with changes in affect, motivation, confidence and behaviour. Limitations and implications of the research are discussed, primarily in relation to a functional account of counterfactual thinking.