Another Reason Why You Should Sleep on It Before Making an Important Decision
A Duke University study reveals that first impressions can bias decision-making. Participants who reflected before deciding made more rational choices, suggesting that time improves evaluations, especially for long-term decisions.
Read original article
A recent study from Duke University highlights the impact of first impressions on decision-making and suggests that taking time to reflect can lead to better choices. The research, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, involved participants evaluating virtual boxes of items for a garage sale. The study found that when participants made decisions immediately, they were heavily influenced by the first items they encountered, leading to biased judgments and overestimations of value. This phenomenon, known as primacy bias, caused participants to favor boxes with valuable items on top, even if the overall value was the same across all boxes. However, those who waited overnight before making their decisions were less affected by first impressions and evaluated the boxes more rationally, considering items regardless of their position. The findings suggest that while quick judgments can be useful in some contexts, such as deciding whether to continue watching a movie, taking time to "sleep on it" is beneficial for decisions with longer-term implications, like hiring or dating. The study emphasizes the brain's ability to integrate experiences over time, leading to improved decision-making.
- First impressions can significantly influence decision-making, often leading to biased judgments.
- Participants who made immediate decisions favored boxes with valuable items on top due to primacy bias.
- Waiting overnight before making decisions resulted in more rational evaluations of options.
- Quick judgments can be useful in short-term scenarios, but longer-term decisions benefit from reflection.
- The study underscores the brain's capacity to summarize experiences for better future choices.
Related
Clear Thinking – Insights from one of the best books on decision-making
The article summarizes insights from Shane Parrish's book on decision-making, highlighting the impact of human nature on judgment. It discusses common defaults hindering clear thinking and suggests a structured approach to improve decision-making skills.
The irrational hungry judge effect revisited
The article critiques the "irrational hungry judge effect," suggesting it may be overestimated and explainable by statistical artifacts. It advocates for simulations to better understand judicial decision-making complexities.
How to Make Better Decisions with Second-Level Thinking
Effective decision-making requires second-level thinking, which evaluates deeper implications and long-term consequences, enhancing outcomes in personal and professional contexts by fostering a thorough analysis of choices.
You're Not Indecisive, You're Unbiased
A study by Samantha Linn from the University of Utah found that slower decision-making is linked to less bias and better choices, challenging the notion that it indicates indecisiveness.
Tortured by regrets? A new study details how best to overcome them
A study from Temple and Duke University identifies strategies to manage regret, highlighting the "portfolio approach" that reduces regret and emotional intensity by encouraging long-term decision evaluation.
9 commentsSo sleeping on it is a way to wash the crud off the occurrence before reexamining it with a little more objectivity.
I read about this in Models of the Mind by Grace Lindsay. Great book.
Increasing the amount of time you dwell on a decision seems to decrease the amount of risk you’re willing to take.
So the people who made the snap judgements were no better or worse off than those who slept on it. I would say this study says close to nothing.
A good example I just came up with is let's say you go and reboot your network attached storage computer and when it comes back your entire array is dead. Now I am going to soften the blow a little bit by telling you that this nas of yours is the one that doesn't have anything life or death on it. Whatever is on it would just be annoying and by annoying I mean you have to redownload everything to put back into your archive and it's going to be hours or days or weeks of frustrating work. Your first impulse might be to simply buy replacement drives this exact moment so they are here tomorrow and you could get the machine back up and running and start recovering data. So you go and do that and you're frustrated but happy because the path to solving this is underway. 2 weeks later there is a sale on those exact drives that you just bought and you overspent buy a significant degree and that messes with your finances a little bit. Plus now you just have a nas with only some of the data back on it at this point. So good on you, you fixed the problem and overspent and for what? If you slept on it a little bit you might have realized that "ehhhh so what? It's just some annoying data that I am slightly inconvenienced by not having anymore. Let's reassess the situation and wait it out for a little bit.". In doing that you might have stumbled upon a sale or an alternative solution or you might just end up saving yourself the headache and the money because you processed the loss and you were okay with it.
Choosing status-quo has a gravity to it, and often the longer you wait the stronger the pull.
Related
Clear Thinking – Insights from one of the best books on decision-making
The article summarizes insights from Shane Parrish's book on decision-making, highlighting the impact of human nature on judgment. It discusses common defaults hindering clear thinking and suggests a structured approach to improve decision-making skills.
The irrational hungry judge effect revisited
The article critiques the "irrational hungry judge effect," suggesting it may be overestimated and explainable by statistical artifacts. It advocates for simulations to better understand judicial decision-making complexities.
How to Make Better Decisions with Second-Level Thinking
Effective decision-making requires second-level thinking, which evaluates deeper implications and long-term consequences, enhancing outcomes in personal and professional contexts by fostering a thorough analysis of choices.
You're Not Indecisive, You're Unbiased
A study by Samantha Linn from the University of Utah found that slower decision-making is linked to less bias and better choices, challenging the notion that it indicates indecisiveness.
Tortured by regrets? A new study details how best to overcome them
A study from Temple and Duke University identifies strategies to manage regret, highlighting the "portfolio approach" that reduces regret and emotional intensity by encouraging long-term decision evaluation.