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Pressure and perverse flights to familiarity
Ab Litt1, Taly Reich, Senia Maymin
1Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, 518 Memorial Way, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. litt_ab@gsb.stanford.edu
Psychological Science
|March 5, 2011
Summary
Under pressure, people may choose familiar options, even if they worsen stress. This "devil you know" bias under pressure can exacerbate negative consequences, contrary to intuition.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Decision Science
Background:
- Individuals often gravitate towards familiar choices under pressure, perceiving them as safer.
- This preference for familiarity can paradoxically increase negative outcomes when under duress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how pressure influences the preference for familiar versus unfamiliar options.
- To determine if the preference for familiarity under pressure can exacerbate negative consequences.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Assessed task choice under time pressure, comparing familiar vs. unfamiliar options.
- Experiment 2: Examined puzzle selection under performance pressure, evaluating familiar vs. unfamiliar puzzles with known outcomes.
Main Results:
- Time pressure increased selection of longer, familiar tasks, leading to higher stress.
- Performance pressure led participants to choose familiar, yet objectively worse-performing puzzles.
- This "devil you know" preference occurred even when familiarity stemmed from negative experiences and was overridden in pressure-free conditions.
Conclusions:
- Pressure can induce a flight to familiarity that worsens, rather than alleviates, negative states.
- The "devil you know" bias under pressure can persist even when evidence suggests suboptimal choices.
- Understanding this phenomenon is crucial for interventions aimed at mitigating pressure's adverse effects.
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