Research Summary
Research Summary
Choice Amnesia: Motivated Forgetting of Difficult Choices
Description
Imagine having to choose between your two favorite flavors of ice cream, chocolate and mint chip. Previous work suggests that whichever option you pick (say, chocolate) will become even more appealing after your decision, and the rejected option (mint chip) will get worse, reducing dissonance-induced regret. Our current research explores another viable, and perhaps common, means of coping with difficult choices: forgetting them altogether. In studies using products, colors, deaths and vacation destinations, we demonstrate this motivated forgetting. We find people are most likely to forget decisions they think hardest about, since these decisions have a high risk of regret. The more difficult participants rated decisions, or the more time they spent deliberating, the less likely they were to remember what they chose.