Inaction inertia occurs when one is less likely to take an attractive opportunity, after refusing an even more attractive opportunity. In their experiment, van Putten and colleagues (2007) tried to...Show moreInaction inertia occurs when one is less likely to take an attractive opportunity, after refusing an even more attractive opportunity. In their experiment, van Putten and colleagues (2007) tried to decouple the inaction inertia effect by using ambiguous information. Their results yielded that ambiguous information did in fact decouple. However, the authors came to these conclusions by using optional stopping and p-hacking. This influenced the reliability of the results, so we decided to replicate this study, for good research practices and because it can give us valuable insight into how decoupling works when given an attractive offer. We made use of the replication recipe of Brandt and colleagues (2014) to conduct the replication.Show less
This study replicated the research of Göbbels (2020) while adding a manipulation of maximising and satisficing tendencies. It aimed to investigate how induced maximising and satisficing influences...Show moreThis study replicated the research of Göbbels (2020) while adding a manipulation of maximising and satisficing tendencies. It aimed to investigate how induced maximising and satisficing influences the choice overload effect. The idea was that 576 participants read their goal was to either strive for the best (maximizing condition) or for good enough (satisficing condition) and choose a tablet from either a limited (6) or large (30) assortment. Decision difficulty and anticipated regret were measured as underlying processes in the choice overload effect. The results showed no effect of maximising. However, the tablet choice task showed that an increase in assortment size leads to more difficulty which increases anticipated regret, and results in more decision avoidance. Interestingly, results showed that anticipated regret was decreased in large compared to small assortment conditions. The findings added to the research of Göbbels (2020) by showing significant results of assortment size and decision avoidance, and their relationship through decision difficulty.Show less
Maximizing can lead to experiencing negative emotions, and this can lead to problematic decision-making styles. However, which negative emotions and how that exactly influences decision making is...Show moreMaximizing can lead to experiencing negative emotions, and this can lead to problematic decision-making styles. However, which negative emotions and how that exactly influences decision making is not completely clear. The present research suggests that maximizing leads to anticipating regret, which in turn leads to avoiding decisions. In addition, the expectation was that upward social comparison moderates the relationship between maximizing and anticipated regret, such that more regret is anticipated. Consequently, decisions were expected to be avoided more. These hypotheses were tested using a correlational (Study 1, N = 126) and experimental study (Study 2, N = 499). The results showed that maximizing indeed leads to a higher likeliness of anticipated regret and decision avoidance. However, satisficers experienced the same consequences when exposed to upward social comparison. The discussion offers explanations and implications of the findings.Show less
