How to hack Open Option Bias?
Open Option Bias affects many long-term and short-term decisions - dating choices, college admissions, housing choices, visiting restaurant cluster streets vs. independent restaurants, going to the mall vs. a single store, potential weekend plans, etc. As long as there are many options, we feel in control and gain a sense of “prospective” satisfaction associated with the potential of making the best decisions.
- Using Open Option Bias can have benefits like choosing good options and feeling satisfied with the decision after eliminating lesser options.
- Fighting Open Option Bias can have benefits like preventing indecision, resource wastage, and confusion.
Because Open Option Bias provides psychological comfort such as feeling in control of your choices, with all the selection and elimination processes you may use, you may take it too far and hold-off important decisions for wanting to see more options.
The simplest, all-purpose way to hack Open Option Bias is by asking yourself a few questions:
- Will more options really give me something significantly better than my current choices?
- Do any of my current options work for me?
- What am I trying to gain by looking at more options?