Research Summary
Research Summary
Decision making
Description
Dr. Bos investigates how unconscious processes aid and improve performance. His work contests the common-sense notion that conscious deliberation always leads to the best outcomes. Dr. Bos and colleagues propose that, for complex decisions, the best outcomes result from a period of distraction that allows the unconscious to process information, rather than from conscious deliberation. He and his colleagues have studied this in the context of various consumer decisions as well as in predicting the outcome of sporting events.