There is a phenomenon of social psychology which is a condition where people tend to think about things more slowly and consciously. This phenomenon is counterfactual thinking.
Counterfactual thinking is the mentally changing of some aspect of the past as away of imagining what might have been. (Social Psychology, Aronson, pg. 91) Everyday instances of counterfactual thinking occur throughout individuals thinking patterns. .
A moment when I experienced counterfactual thinking was concerning my car. I drive a Pontiac Sunfire, of which I have owned for 3 years. Rarely and only in certain situations will I lend my car to someone to drive. I take a great deal of pride in my car and would not like to take the risk of it being ruined, due to someone else's mistakes. Therefore, in my own group of friends it is known that I never lend my car to anyone.
However, on a weekend in July of this past summer my friend Mark asked to borrow my car. I was heading home for the weekend, back to Toronto. I had already purchased a train ticket and was planning on leaving my car in Windsor and taking the train home.
My friend Mark, proving a good point that my car was just going to be left in Windsor anyways, had asked to borrow my car for Saturday. His plans were to surprise his girlfriend of 3 years, by picking her up in London and bringing her back to Windsor. She was planning on taking the train. Mark thought this would save her the money and he would pay the gas money to pick her up.
I had said he could do this, providing he called me when he was done, just to say everything went alright. He agreed to this.
So I went back to Toronto and Mark borrowed my car and promised to call me by midnight. Twelve-Thirty came and went by. I never heard from Mark. The next afternoon I received a call from Mark saying that my car had been pushed in slightly due to him backing out in a parking lot. As mad as anyone would be, it ended in me paying for the car to be fixed and the other car that was involved.
