“Regret is based on a counterfactual thought,” says Amy Summerville, an associate psychology professor at Miami University, Ohio who specializes in research on regret. Humans are prone to thinking that starts with statements like, “If I had only…” or “what if…” which we have to reconcile with the factual reality of the real world.

“Between the ages of 4 and 7, we gain the ability to process things about reality and another imagined reality.” In this case, that imagined reality is one in which you bought Bitcoin near its start and now had a digital wallet full of currency.

This kind of thinking happens regarding everything from choosing a restaurant to picking which smartphone to buy. Regret stems from decisions people make, even if they’re not consciously and explicitly making a decision.