On the benefits of thinking unconsciously: Unconscious thought can increase post-choice satisfaction

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.10.008

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volume 42, Issue 5, September 2006, Pages 627-631

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.10.008 Get rights and content

Abstract

This work compares conscious thought and unconscious thought in relation to quality of choice. Earlier work [Dijksterhuis, A. (2004). Think different: The merits of unconscious thought in preference development and decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 586–598] has shown that people make better choices after engaging in unconscious thought (i.e., unconscious activity during a period of distraction) rather than in conscious thought. However, the evidence was obtained for choices between hypothetical alternatives with quality of choice operationalized normatively. As quality of decision is essentially subjective, in the current experiment participants chose between real objects with quality operationalized as post-choice satisfaction. In a paradigm based on work by Wilson and colleagues [Wilson, T. D., Lisle, D., Schooler, J. W., Hodges, S. D., Klaaren, K. J., & LaFleur, S. J. (1993). Introspecting about reasons can reduce post-choice satisfaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 331–339], participants were briefly presented with five art posters, and chose one either (a) immediately, (b) after thorough conscious thinking about each poster, or (c) after a period of distraction. Participants took their favorite poster home and were phoned 3–5 weeks later. As hypothesized, unconscious thinkers were more satisfied with their choice than participants in the other two conditions.

Section snippets

Participants and design

One-hundred-and-thirteen undergraduate students (87 women and 26 men) of the University of Amsterdam were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: an immediate decision condition; a conscious thought condition; and an unconscious thought condition. They either received course credits or 7 Euros.

Materials and procedure

Participants were seated in individual cubicles in front of a computer. The computer program provided the instructions. The experiment was introduced as being on “Visual preferences and the

Results

Of the 113 participants, 24 could not be reached over the phone, leaving 89 participants available for the analyses. It was first established that there were no significant differences of choice of posters between conditions.

General discussion

People who were given the opportunity to think about choices unconsciously made superior decisions relative to those who thought consciously or who did not think at all. The experiment extends earlier work by Dijksterhuis, 2004, Dijksterhuis and Nordgren, in press in two important ways: first, quality of decision was operationalized subjectively rather than normatively, and second, participants chose something real. Having people choose among hypothetical objects is one thing, but having people

Acknowledgments

We thank Teun Meurs for his help with the experiment and Jonathan Schooler for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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^☆: This research was supported by NWO-Vernieuwingsimpuls 016.025.030.

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On the benefits of thinking unconsciously: Unconscious thought can increase post-choice satisfaction☆

Abstract

Section snippets

Participants and design

Materials and procedure

Results

General discussion

Acknowledgments

Cognitive Psychology

Journal of Consumer Psychology

I like it but I don’t know why: A value-account approach to implicit attitude formation

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Hare brain, tortoise mind: How intelligence increases when you think less

Think different: The merits of unconscious thought in preference development and decision making

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology