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Decision Quicksand: How Trivial Choices Suck Us In

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  • Aner Sela
  • Jonah Berger

Abstract

People often get unnecessarily mired in trivial decisions. Four studies support a metacognitive account for this painful phenomenon. Our central premise is that people use subjective experiences of difficulty while making a decision as a cue to how much further time and effort to spend. People generally associate important decisions with difficulty. Consequently, if a decision feels unexpectedly difficult, due to even incidental reasons, people may draw the reverse inference that it is also important and consequently increase the amount of time and effort they expend. Ironically, this process is particularly likely for decisions that initially seemed unimportant because people expect them to be easier (whereas important decisions are expected to be difficult to begin with). Our studies demonstrate that unexpected difficulty not only causes people to get caught up in unimportant decisions but also to voluntarily seek more options, which can increase decision difficulty even further.

Suggested Citation

  • Aner Sela & Jonah Berger, 2012. "Decision Quicksand: How Trivial Choices Suck Us In," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 360-370.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:doi:10.1086/662997
    DOI: 10.1086/662997
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nathan N. Cheek & Jacob Goebel, 2020. "What does it mean to maximize? “Decision difficulty,†indecisiveness, and the jingle-jangle fallacies in the measurement of maximizing," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(1), pages 7-24, January.
    2. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:1:p:7-24 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Ambroise Descamps & Sébastien Massoni & Lionel Page, 2022. "Learning to hesitate," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(1), pages 359-383, February.
    4. repec:cup:judgdm:v:10:y:2015:i:5:p:407-415 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Job M. T. Krijnen & Marcel Zeelenberg & Seger M. Breugelmans, 2015. "Decision importance as a cue for deferral," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 10(5), pages 407-415, September.
    6. Schaffner, Florian, 2016. "Information transmission in high dimensional choice problems: The value of online ratings in the restaurant market," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145585, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Aner Sela & Jonah Berger & Joshua Kim & Gita JoharEditor & Leonard LeeAssociate Editor, 2017. "How Self-Control Shapes the Meaning of Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 724-737.
    8. repec:cup:judgdm:v:17:y:2022:i:5:p:937-961 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:jdm:journl:v:17:y:2022:i:5:p:937-961 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Sang Kyu Park & Aner Sela & Amna Kirmani & Cait Lamberton, 2020. "Product Lineups: The More You Search, The Less You Find [Interaction Terms in Logit and Probit Models]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 47(1), pages 40-55.

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