Summary: A new study reveals that people feel more culpable when they follow bad advice than when they make poor decisions independently. Researchers found that going against one’s better judgment increases thoughts of missed opportunities, amplifying feelings of control and regret.
Surprisingly, rather than blaming the adviser, participants blamed themselves more for the negative outcome. These findings suggest that rejecting advice that contradicts personal judgment can help reduce future feelings of regret and responsibility.
Key Facts
- Increased Self-Blame: People who followed bad advice felt more responsible for poor outcomes.
- Missed Opportunity Effect: Ignoring better judgment led to increased thoughts about better choices.
- Beyond Small Decisions: This effect extends to major life choices, like career decisions.
Source: Cornell University
When people go along with opinions that go against their better judgment, they feel more culpable for the decision if things go wrong than if they hadn’t received another opinion, new research from Cornell University finds.
The effect may seem counterintuitive, but going against one’s better judgment increases thoughts about better decisions that could have been made, which amplify feelings of control over the situation.
“If you have another person in the decision process, you would think that’s going to help spread the responsibility,” said Kaitlin Woolley, professor of marketing and management communications.
“And yet not only do people not blame the adviser more, they’re blaming themselves more.”
Woolley and Sunita Sah, associate professor of management and organizations, published their findings in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
The research included a 200-subject in-person experiment with physical prizes and four online studies, with up to 1,200 participants per experiment.
Participants chose between two lotteries, one with clearly superior prizes. Some subjects were offered input from an adviser who had no more knowledge about the choices. The adviser recommended the lesser lottery, and in four of the five studies participants received the lowest possible prize: 10 cents.
Across all studies, they found that participants’ feelings of culpability and the perception that they had control over the situation were greater in the group that received input than in the group that made an independent decision. Participants thought about how they could have ignored the advice and enjoyed the better prize.
“This effect could extend beyond small decisions. It can apply to major life choices, like wondering, ‘What if I had chosen a different career?’” Sah said.
In previous research, Sah, a physician turned organizational psychologist, found that people often followed obviously bad advice. This new research explored the downstream effects of regret, responsibility and blame after following bad advice – at least from an adviser who is not an expert.
“Our research highlights the importance of rejecting suggestions that go against our better judgments,” Sah said.
“People often assume that following someone else’s suggestion will shield them from responsibility or regret. But in reality, the opposite happens. You end up feeling worse when you ignored what you knew was the better choice.”
About this psychology research news
Author: Ellen Leventry
Source: Cornell University
Contact: Ellen Leventry – Cornell University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Kicking Yourself: Going Against Your Inclinations Leads to Greater Feelings of Control and Culpability” by Kaitlin Woolley et al. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Abstract
Kicking Yourself: Going Against Your Inclinations Leads to Greater Feelings of Control and Culpability
Despite knowing better, people often follow the opinions of others when making decisions.
Although people in joint evaluation mode (i.e., comparing options side-by-side) anticipate feeling less culpable if things go wrong after following someone else’s suggestion, our research shows the opposite effect when they actually experience one of the options.
Across multiple studies (n = 3,200), including four with real monetary consequences, we find that people feel more culpable when they go against their better judgment.
This counterintuitive effect occurs because going against one’s better judgment increases thoughts about alternative, better decisions that could have been made, which amplify feelings of control over the situation.
This effect occurs regardless of whether the input is solicited or unsolicited and is specific to situations where people go against their better judgment.
It does not occur if people reject poor suggestions or follow input that aligns with their judgment.
