It seems that if we are making choices for others, we are often doing a better job than if we are deciding for ourselves. This seems to be the case for quite different aspects of decision-making. For example, previous studies had already shown that people are looking for more information if they’re deciding for others than if they’re deciding for themselves. Now, this new study by Evan Polman shows that people who make decisions for others are less affected by typical biases (I’m happy to help you get the full articles if you’re interested).
In particular, this study suggests that making choices for others can reduce people’s loss aversion, which is our typical tendency to let negative events weigh into our decisions much more heavily than positive events.
Interestingly, older people also show less loss aversion than younger people, along with generally being more emotionally competent in their decision-making.
Could it be that deciding for others lends a temporary maturity to our thinking patterns?
If so, how can we make use of that knowledge? Well, when facing important decisions, we could simply imagine giving advice to others about that decision. That can help us get a healthy distance from the problem and hopefully bring out some unexpected wisdom.
by Ursina Teuscher (PhD), at Teuscher Decision Coaching, Portland OR