Unexpected Benefits of Deciding by Mind Wandering

Colleen  Giblin; Carey K. Morewedge; Michael I. Norton

Article | Frontiers in Psychology

Unexpected Benefits of Deciding by Mind Wandering

by Colleen Giblin, Carey K. Morewedge and Michael I. Norton

Abstract

The mind wanders, even when people are attempting to make complex decisions. We suggest that such mind wandering—allowing one's thoughts to wander until the "correct" choice comes to mind—can positively impact people's feelings about their decisions. We compare post-choice satisfaction from choices made by mind wandering to reason based choices and randomly assigned outcomes. Participants chose a poster by mind wandering or deliberating—or were randomly assigned a poster. Whereas forecasters predicted that participants who chose by mind wandering would evaluate their outcome as inferior to participants who deliberated (Experiment 1), participants who used mind wandering as a decision strategy evaluated their choice just as positively as did participants who used deliberate choice (Experiment 2). In some cases, people can spare themselves the trouble of deliberation and instead "decide by mind wandering" yet experience no decrease in satisfaction.

Keywords: Decisions; Satisfaction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cognition and Thinking;

Format: Electronic

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Citation:

Giblin, Colleen, Carey K. Morewedge, and Michael I. Norton. "Unexpected Benefits of Deciding by Mind Wandering." Art. 598. Frontiers in Psychology 4 (September 6, 2013).

Article | Journal of the Association for Consumer Research | April 2019

Rituals and Nuptials: The Emotional and Relational Consequences of Relationship Rituals

Ximena Garcia-Rada, Ovul Sezer and Michael I. Norton

Four studies reveal the benefits of relationship rituals: couples with relationship rituals report more positive emotions and greater relationship satisfaction and commitment than those without them. We show that rituals are crucial for understanding consumption practices in romantic relationships. Using a sample of romantic dyads, we identify a novel moderating role of mutual agreement, such that both members of a couple must agree that they have a ritual: different couples can see the same consumption behavior (e.g., paying for a weekly date night) as either a ritual or a routine, and the benefits accrue only to those couples who jointly view it as a symbolically meaningful ritual. We contribute to the literature on rituals by empirically documenting the relationships between rituals, specific emotions, and relationship satisfaction, and by demonstrating that the same sequence of actions can have different psychological effects due to the role of mutual agreement. Finally, we contribute to research on consumers’ shared experiences by suggesting a novel mechanism for committing to such experiences: relationship rituals.

Keywords: rituals; Relationship Satisfaction; Relationships; Satisfaction; Spending; Behavior; Perception; Emotions;

Citation:

Garcia-Rada, Ximena, Ovul Sezer, and Michael I. Norton. "Rituals and Nuptials: The Emotional and Relational Consequences of Relationship Rituals." Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 4, no. 2 (April 2019): 185–197. View Details

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Unexpected Benefits of Deciding by Mind Wandering

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