Earl Grey for the Replicator...you'll need it for this long read.

1. Give the full bibliographic information for the article. Dr. Sunwolf, Department of Communication, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Road, Santa Clara CA 95053 U.S.A. Decisional Regret Theory: Reducing the Anxiety About Uncertain Outcomes During Group Decision Making Through Shared Counterfactual Storytelling. Communication Studies; Jun2006, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p107-134 2. Explain the void that this article was seeking to fill. The word storytelling intrigued me. I believe if we can fill-in-the-blanks and use word pictures the audience will find they can relate to the story. So the combination of storytelling and groups interested me. However, there doesn’t seem to be much research devoted to just that topic specifically in the business environment. While the section called The Emergence of Counterfactual Storytelling During Group Decision Making dealt with counterfactual Storythinking and the paralyzing effect of groupthink; the thrust of this article was for use in jury deliberations. Yet, the concepts should be generalized over to practical business operations. 3. Explain the major claims advanced by the article. a. People seek predictability in their worlds, uncertainty is uncomfortable, people seek to reduce the anxiety that accompanies uncertainty. b. People consistently employ storytelling to give order to the human experience [we are socialized to do so]. c. Groups can be highly influenced by counterfactual storytelling ~ in many ways. This article describes the roles attributed to the participants based on their view of the issues, story, and how it relates to their personal life. d. Socialization of storytelling is part of the culture in which we’re raised. Counterfactual storytelling is used in families and child rearing. This article alluded to the counterfactual storytelling as part of the development of the conscience. e. Anticipated regret is uncomfortable and people seek to reduce it. f. Regret can be contagious in the group when one member’s regret anxiety is transferred to the other group members during decisional talk. g. Group members will re-story a negative prechoice outcome in order to avoid an unwanted outcome. 4. Explain the practical implications of the article’s findings for both research and practice. The practical implications for practice is in daily life, in business (including judicial) and at home. Making decisions by group is the norm in both of these settings. Consequently, we need to understand how groups function. The practical research component is the continuing study of how groups can rightly or wrongly steer the course. Future and other research needs to be devoted to the development of the conscience regarding counterfactual storytelling. Can the conscience be developed without storytelling? Can the use of fables be omitted from the culture and survive? Or will the omission of fables topple the world of right and wrong and the societal code of moral values?