Study investigates mixed feelings in decision processes
How do people deal with mixed feelings about choices and decisions? This is the theme behind the PhD research project entitled ‘Ambivalence and choice conflict: Regulatory processes in attitudes and decision-making'.
How do people deal with mixed feelings about choices and decisions? This is the theme behind the PhD research project entitled ‘Ambivalence and choice conflict: Regulatory processes in attitudes and decision-making'. Last month, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) announced it would award a so-called Vrije Competitie subsidy of € 210,000 to support the project.Should I accept a new job or am I better off with my current employer? Should I buy a new house or should I stay where I am now? Modern man is faced with more choices than were past generations, and information about those choices has grown enormously. There is a common assumption that this situation is resulting in uncertainty, stress and procrastinating behaviour. In this study, researchers are focusing on one key effect of this plethora of information: ambivalence.
Sitting on the fence
Frenk van Harreveld, the subsidy applicant and future supervisor of the PhD student carrying out the study, explains, ‘Previous studies have already shown that ambivalence in decision-making is something we perceive as unpleasant. Mixed feelings give people a sense that they might end up making the wrong choice.' Incidentally, the extent of our ambivalence is far greater when it comes to making choices in which we exert a real influence and that are close to our hearts. According to Van Harreveld, ‘You can have mixed feelings about sending military troops to Afghanistan, but you probably won't lay awake nights worrying about it. But that can be exactly what happens when you have to make a decision about a new house or a new job. "Sitting on the fence", in other words. You have to jump one way or the other, but which is best?Unpleasant sensation
The study focuses in particular on the ways in which people deal with that unpleasant sensation of ambivalence, as well as on what they could do to diminish it. Delaying the decision is one strategy, but they can also actively go out in search of information about the issue at hand.‘In this case, people apply what is called an ‘effort-accuracy trade-off': on the one hand they want to minimise the amount of effort they invest in deliberating but, on the other, they still want to take a qualitatively well-founded decision. We think that the accuracy motivation will win out in decisions that are very important, while less important decisions will be led by the effort motivation. This study should show which strategies people use at such junctures and how they apply them.'
The study will start within the year and will run for four years.