Abstract: The aim of the study is to clarify the mutual relationships between personal need for structure, counterfactual thinking and decision making styles. The research sample comprised 76 university students. The following scales were administered: Personal Need for Structure (PNS), Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ), Decision Making Style Questionnaire (DMSQ) and Counterfactual Thinking Questionnaire (CT). Results revealed that personal need for structure and its subfactors do not affect an individual's behavior in the decision making process, but they do affect the decision making style when it comes to the desire for structure or the response to the lack thereof. A strong desire for structure is more related to a more frequent use of rational and dependent decision making style, while a weak response to the lack of structure is related to a more frequent use of the intuitive decision making style and less frequent avoidance decision making style. Additionally, the results show that counterfactual thinking characteristics are related mainly to maladaptive styles of decision making behavior.Key words: personal need for structure, decision making style, decision making beha vior, cou nterfactu al think ingOSOBNA POTREBA STRUKTURY, KONTRAFAKTOVE MYSLENIE A ROZHODOVANIE U ZIENA. P r o k o p c a k o v aSu hrn : Cielom stu die je prispiet k objasneniu vzajomných vztahov potreby struk tury, kontrafaktoveho myslenia a stýlov rozhodovania. Výskumný výber tvorilo 76 vysok oskolských stu dentiek . Administrovali sme sk aly: Osobna potreba struktury (PNS), Melbou rnsk ý dotaznik ro zho dov a ni a ( MDM Q), D ot a zn ik rozhodova cieho stýlu (D MSQ ) a dot azn ik Pre mýsla n ie o neu sk u tocnených a lterna tiva ch riesenia (KM). Zistili sme, ze potreba stru k tury a jej zlozk y neovplyvnuju sposob spra va nia sa jednotlivcov pri rozhodovacom procese, ale ovplyvnu ju stýl rozhodovania, a to diferencovane v za vislosti od toho, ci sledujeme zelanie struktury alebo reakciu na chýba nie struk tury. Silne zelanie struktury suvisi s castejsim pou zivanim raciona lneho a zavisleho stýlu rozhodovania, zatial co slaba reakcia na chýbanie struktu ry suvisi s ca stejsim pou zivanim intu itivneho stýlu rozhodovania a zriedkavejsim vyhýbavým stýlom rozhodovania . Ok rem toho sme zistili, ze charakteristiky kontrafaktoveho myslenia suvisia na jma s ma l- a da pt iv ny mi stý l mi spr a v a n ia sa p ri r oz ho dova ni.People live in a complicated world of infor- mation. Large amounts of information that flood human senses and a limited capacity of one's concentration raise the important question of information processing. With- out pr ocessi n g th e stimuli affectin g a person's senses, the world would be an un- imaginable chaos for him/her.In the process of mutual interaction with the environment, a person forms structural representations of the inner and outer worlds and categorizes events into meaningful units that can be helpful in adapting to new situa- tions and understanding individual events without extreme cognitive strain.The subject matter of cognitive structur- ing relates, to a considerable degree, to per- sonal need for structure, cognitive decision making, choice of alternatives (even past or future ones), categorization, etc., and re- searchers look for determinants (e.g., person- ality characteristics) which are concerned with the preferred way of information pro- cessing, decision making and coping strate- gies.PERSONAL NEED FOR STRUCTUREIf the primary motive for categorization is to provide structure, and if there are indi- vidual differences in the manner and extent how people categorize their social world, then one of the variables differentiating individu- als is personal need for structure. In reality, personal need for structure is one of the motives that can automatically influence per- ception and behavior due to its ability to di- rect cognition and behavior in various situa- tions. …