Do You Keep Making Bad Decisions? It’s the Fault of a Certain Habit

Let’s Play a Game. Which Planet Will You Choose?

Scientists at the University of New South Wales in Sydney conducted a study. They had participants play a simple online game to see if people learn and draw conclusions from the consequences of their actions. This way, they uncovered the mechanism behind making bad decisions.

Volunteers had to choose between two planets. Initially, both gave points, but later, one gave points while the other took them away. After playing a certain number of rounds, it was easy to see which choice was more beneficial. However, not all players took the better option.

The scientists divided the participants into three types:

• The Sensitive: This first group quickly noticed the game’s pattern and immediately adjusted their choices.
• The Unaware: This was the second group. They were unable to notice the pattern on their own, but when it was explained to them, they also changed their strategy.
• The Compulsive: This third group behaved completely differently. They did not initially recognize the pattern, and even after it was explained to them, they continued to make decisions that were harmful.

“We essentially told them that this action leads to this negative consequence and this other one is safe. Most of the people who were making the bad choices changed their behavior instantly. But some of them did not,” commented Dr. Jean-Richard Dit Bressel in a university release.

When the participants were re-tested a few months later, their behavior had not changed.

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Making Bad Decisions Might Be Linked to a Predisposition

The scientists conducted a follow-up study six months later. They asked the participants to play the game again to see if their behavior had changed. Volunteers also had to explain their strategies and thought processes, which was meant to provide better insight into their choices. Most people behaved the same way as they did the first time.

“That was one of the more striking discoveries. It suggests these aren’t just random mistakes or bad days. They are stable traits, almost like personality types. It doesn’t mean they’re fixed, just that breaking them may require an intervention,” added Dit Bressel.

When asked to explain their choices, the Compulsive players described their strategies in detail. The problem was not a lack of awareness but rather an inability to stop or change harmful behaviors.

Once on This Path, It’s Hard to Get Off

“When we make mistakes while performing a specific task, ‘frequency bias’ makes us likely to repeat them every time we perform that task. To put it simply, our brains start to assume that the mistakes we’ve made before are the correct way to perform the task, creating a habitual ‘error path’,” explains Dr. Pragya Agarwal in an article published on The Conversation.

“The more we repeat the same tasks, the more likely we are to follow the error path until it becomes so deeply ingrained that it transforms into a set of permanent cognitive shortcuts in our brains,” concludes Dr. Agarwal.

Although researchers admit that real life is significantly different from a simple game, the behaviors observed in the experiment are often reflected in other situations, such as gambling or addiction. This points to the potential need for intervention for compulsive individuals who have difficulty understanding the consequences of their actions.

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