"It goes like this: when people imagine how things could be different, they almost always imagine how things could be better.
I’m going to show you eight studies (plus a bonus study) documenting this effect and trying to figure out why it happens and what it means. The phenomenon appears to be incredibly robust.
[...] it might offer a peek into human nature, and it may explain why it’s so hard for people to get happier.
This is a real scientific paper, except you don’t have to pay a million dollars to access it. You can get all the data, code, materials, and preregistrations here."
https://psyarxiv.com/2uxwk/