If you want to decide the big thing, stay overnight

Some people are hesitant to buy a car that is most suitable, others immediately rent an apartment to meet for the first time. There are instinctive judgments that are best, but others are not.

Do buying and selling stocks need to be taken into consideration?Photo: iStockphoto.

Every day we are faced with important decisions: Is it necessary to wake up and go to work or hope that no one will miss us? Is the VW now the most suitable car for the family or buying the red Ferrari and buying affordable homes instead of expensive villas? . Some things can be decided quickly, others require long thinking. But perhaps instinctive judgments are sometimes best.

Support for this is Gerd Gigerenzer's study from the Max Planck Institute (Germany). He was able to prove that having too much information and thinking too long often did not lead to the best results.

For example, in the purchase of good stocks in sports competitions: Quick and spontaneous decisions are often made for larger amateurs, rather than a deliberate consideration of professionals.

But is it so that people should trust their instincts more than their minds?

For several years now, the scientific group of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands is seeking answers to this question. And their results are remarkable.

In the experiment, they introduced volunteers to 4 unreal apartments in Amsterdam, with 12 different attributes, such as area and location. There is an apartment with lots of good characteristics and one has many bad characteristics.

After reading the information, some of the experiment participants had to make an immediate decision - instinctively - for the best apartment. The second group is allowed to think consciously about this within 3 minutes. And the third group must also speak after 3 minutes, but at the same time they were distracted by many puzzles.

Success of people "subconsciously thinking"

Dijksterhuis and his colleagues called the last group "subconscious thinkers". These people often realize which apartment is the best than the instinctive decision group (group 1) or those who consider consciously (group 2).

It was like having a selection process in their heads, but behind the scenes, while the brain was busy with the word puzzle. This proves that the decision-making process in pre-consciousness results in better results than conscious thought.

This example demonstrates that we need to play Sudoku a few times before making a judgment? Not so simple, as the scientific team identified in many subsequent experiments.

Suggested from the apartment experiment, they set out before the participants to choose one of four virtual cars that were equipped with different good and bad. In the first experiment the cars had 4 good or bad characteristics, and in the second experiment they had 12 characteristics.

The result: people who are allowed to think for 4 minutes consciously often choose the best car - if they only have to pay attention to four characteristics. When there are 12 properties, leading the way are those in the subconscious group (those who are strayed so they cannot think much about their choices).

It is better to stay overnight

Thus, results from Dutch scientists' labs are also confirmed by consumer surveys: People who have long-term (cognitive) thoughts often decide to buy the most appropriate item at that time. is a simple product. And those who think subconsciously can choose the best when it is complex products.

Dijksterhuis and his colleagues believe that what is called "subconscious thinking" can also have an immediate effect on politicians or directors when they make an important decision, not simply a time. Purchase.

The problem is that we have underestimated the ability of the subconscious. Not only does it make it possible for us to drive cars without having to constantly think about using many different pedal and electric switches. It is more capable than that. It's just that we don't know much about this.

For example, sometimes we get a "hint", or half an hour after a conversation, suddenly we suddenly remember the word that we tried to think of before. Scientists and inventors also often reported that they only thought of a solution to a problem after turning to another. Of course, you should not be too reliant on this.

Anyway, the awareness of psychologists and brain researchers has confirmed an ancient advice: Those who are facing a difficult decision and do not have to give it right away should look over it. night was.