Understanding the Past and Counterfactual Possibilistic Thinking

Abstract

Background. The article substantiates that today the research emphasis of many psychologists is shifting from understanding the present to analyzing the psychology of understanding the past and the future. Understanding the past is analyzed as a general humanitarian and psychological problem. Counterfactual thinking is considered as a psychological mechanism for understanding the past.

Objectives. To analyze the understanding of the past as a function of counterfactual possibilistic thinking.

Results. The study delivered an analysis of the role of counterfactual thinking in understanding the past, which did not actually happen, but could include alternative possible events. Counterfactual thinking was considered not as Laplace’s consistent description of the human world, but as a complex ambiguous mental formation. It is shown that counterfactual reasoning is a tool of cognition not only for psychologists, but also for historians, linguists, political scientists and researchers in other specialties. The presented analysis allowed to identify and describe five functions of counterfactual possibilistic thinking, manifested in behavior and activity: cognitive, meaningforming, motivational, moral, and affective-regulatory.

Conclusions. The psychological basis of retrospective counterfactual thinking is an appeal to the past, an analysis of the possible but not accomplished options for the development of the events and situations under study. A characteristic feature of the counterfactuals is that counterfactual events are not just something that did not happen, but something that could actually replace what happened.

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