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Science 17 February 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5763, p. 913
DOI: 10.1126/science.311.5763.913k
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This Week in Science

We hope that thinking about a decision results in a good choice, and that the more complex the decision, the more time and effort were invested in thinking about it. Dijksterhuis et al. (p. 1005; see the news story by Miller) show that deliberate thinking about simple decisions (such as buying a shampoo) does yield choices that are judged to be more satisfying than those made with little thought, as expected. However, as the decisions become complex (more expensive items with many characteristics, such as cars), better decisions and happier ones come from not attending to the choices but allowing one's unconscious to sift through the many permutations for the optimal combination.




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