Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2017
  • Article
  • Journal of Behavioral Decision Making

Should You Sleep on It? The Effects of Overnight Sleep on Subjective Preference-based Choice

By: Uma R. Karmarkar, Baba Shiv and Rebecca M.C. Spencer
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Conventional wisdom and studies of unconscious processing suggest that sleeping on a choice may improve decision-making. Though sleep has been shown to benefit several cognitive tasks, including problem solving, its impact on everyday choices remains unclear. Here we explore the effects of "sleeping on it" on preference-based decisions among multiple options. In two studies, individuals viewed several attributes describing a set of items and were asked to select their preferred item after a 12-hour interval that either contained sleep or was spent fully awake. After an overnight period including sleep, individuals showed increases in positive perceptions of the choice set. This finding contrasts with previous research showing that sleep selectively enhances recall for negative information. In addition, this increase in positive recall did not translate into a greater desire to purchase their preferred item or into an overall benefit for choice satisfaction. Time-of-day controls were used to confirm that the observed effects could not be explained by circadian influences. Thus we show that people may feel more positive about the choice options, but not more confident about the choice after "sleeping on" a subjective decision. We discuss how the valence of recalled choice set information may be important in understanding the effects of sleep on multi-attribute decision making, and suggest several avenues for future research.

Keywords

Decision Making; Choice; Sleep; Choice Sets; Confidence; Consumer Psychology; Consumer Preferences; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior

Citation

Karmarkar, Uma R., Baba Shiv, and Rebecca M.C. Spencer. "Should You Sleep on It? The Effects of Overnight Sleep on Subjective Preference-based Choice." Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 30, no. 1 (January 2017): 70–79.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Purchase

More from the Authors

    • July 2017
    • Journal of Behavioral Decision Making

    The Impact of 'Display-Set' Options on Decision-Making

    By: Uma R. Karmarkar
    • 2017
    • Scientific Reports

    Blunted Ambiguity Aversion During Cost-Benefit Decisions in Antisocial Individuals

    By: Joshua W. Buckholtz, Uma R. Karmarkar, Shengxuan Ye, Grace M. Brennan and Arielle Baskin-Sommers
    • 2017
    • Faculty Research

    The 4 Minds of the Customer: A Framework for Understanding and Applying the Science of Decision Making

    By: Ryan Hamilton and Uma R. Karmarkar
More from the Authors
  • The Impact of 'Display-Set' Options on Decision-Making By: Uma R. Karmarkar
  • Blunted Ambiguity Aversion During Cost-Benefit Decisions in Antisocial Individuals By: Joshua W. Buckholtz, Uma R. Karmarkar, Shengxuan Ye, Grace M. Brennan and Arielle Baskin-Sommers
  • The 4 Minds of the Customer: A Framework for Understanding and Applying the Science of Decision Making By: Ryan Hamilton and Uma R. Karmarkar
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College