5 Research-Based Ways to Make Better Decisions

Rebecca Lewis June 19, 2014

Ever confused of what career path to take, where to settle down, what business to pursue, or whether to marry someone or not? Making decision is often a hard thing to do, especially if you are bombarded with a lot of options. Fortunately, there are science-backed ways that can help make decision making an easier process. Here they are:

Dim the light.

Where you are can affect your decision making skills. In one study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, participants thought sauce was spicier, fictional characters were more aggressive and people were more attractive when they were in a brighter room, versus a dimmer room. That’s because light intensifies the initial emotional reaction we have to different kinds of stimulus including products and people, according to the researchers.

Take your time. Don’t hurry.

It doesn’t have to take hours or days. Sometimes, extending a decision for even just a couple seconds can help a lot. For instance, in a research published in PLoS ONE journal, postponing the onset of the decision process by as little as 50 to 100 milliseconds enabled the brain to focus attention on the most relevant information and block out irrelevant distractors.

Practise mindfulness.

Practicing mindfulness meditation is one great strategy to make sound decisions. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that mindfulness meditation – which is awareness of the present moment – can help you to make a rational decision in the face of sunk-cost bias. In the study, published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers found an association between increased focus on the present moment, and an increased willingness to ignore the sunk costs and make the rational decision to cut the losses.

Look at the situation from a distant.

Another thing you can do to make more rational decisions is to remove yourself from the situation and think of yourself as an outside observer. Another study published in the Psychological Science found that when you think about a relationship conflict from a first-person perspective, you’re less likely to employ wise reasoning than when you think about a conflict from a third-person perspective.

Think in a foreign language.

Thinking in another language removes some of the emotional connection you might otherwise have with your native tongue. Yes, like the above suggestion, it’s another way to distant yourself from the situation and think more rationally.