“…According to decision affect theory (DAT) once an event happens—which either confirms or refutes the prior expectation—the canonical direct relation between thoughts and emotions inverses (Mellers, Schwartz, Ho, & Ritov, ). Post‐outcome, adults who previously thought positively (high expectations) feel worse than those who had thought negatively (low expectations): Unexpected losses feel worse than expected losses, and unexpected gains feel better than expected gains (Bossuyt, Moors, & De Houwer, ; Carroll, Sweeny, & Shepperd, ; Mellers et al., ; Sweeny, Reynolds, Falkenstein, Andrews, & Dooley, ; Sweeny & Shepperd, ). Neurobiological research further reveals different dopaminergic responses to unexpected versus expected outcomes in several animal species, including humans (Glimcher, ; Schultz, ).…”