Indecisiveness isn’t all bad. Photo: Pexels
Endless deliberation, without making choices. It can be exhausting, especially if you really want something to change in your life. But indecision isn’t all bad, researchers discovered.
With a brand new year just around the corner, your list of plans may already be ready. Maybe you really want to take a different approach now. A different job, traveling or a different house, for example. But when it comes down to it, you don’t do it, it’s too scary or you don’t know whether the alternative will be worth all the uncertainty.
This hesitation is often related to perfectionism and can have a significant impact on life satisfaction, according to research research by Eric Rassin, professor of Legal Psychology at Erasmus University. Perfectionistic people are less likely to endorse statements such as “the circumstances in my life are excellent,” or “if I could live my life over again, I would change almost nothing.”
Underlying thoughts behind difficulty making choices
Seen in this light, there is little positive about indecision. But a recent study by scientists at the Dresden University of Technology shows that there is a major advantage to this property. This research focused on the underlying thoughts and feelings when making choices, or the lack thereof.
For example, respondents had to indicate to what extent they agree with statements such as ‘my thoughts are often contradictory’ and ‘I often feel torn between two sides of an issue’.
Conformation bias
People who recognize themselves in such statements will score high on the trait of ambivalence, says one of the researchers, Jana-Maria Hohnsbehn. BBC. Although people with an ambivalent character have more difficulty making decisions, they are less likely to fall prey to a conformation bias, i.e. attaching value to information that confirms your own beliefs.
In one of the experiments, the intention was that the subjects would figure out whether someone was an extrovert or an introvert, while they estimated in advance that the person was an extrovert. The test subjects could choose from two questions with which they could find out this fact: do you like spending time alone at home and do you like going to parties.
Open to new information
Most people would ask that last question. But the researchers found that highly ambivalent people were less likely to do this and would actually ask even more questions to form the right answer. This also emerged from other experiments within the study. People who generally have more difficulty making choices are more open to information that is at odds with their current view of the matter.
Public opinion on ambivalence must change, says researcher Hohnsbehn. “It can give us the pause we need, signal that things are complex and that we need more time to think more carefully about our decision.” But like everything in life, balance is important here, says Hohnsbehn.
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Comments
2023-12-28 13:51:19
#choices #doesnt #disadvantages
