People often quickly jump to the worst possible conclusions when they’re stressed, suggests a new study conducted by researchers at the University College, London.
The study looked at 91 volunteers who were recruited to play a categorization game. Here, they could collate as much evidence as they wanted in order to determine if they were in a desirable environment (with rewards) or an undesirable environment (with losses).
The game, dubbed factory task, displayed an animated sequence of TVs and smartphones passing along a conveyor belt. The goal of the participant was to accurately determine if they were in a phone manufacturing factory or a TV manufacturing factory.
In every round, participants invested in one factory. In trials where they happened to be in the ‘desirable factory’ they gained points, whereas being in the ‘undesirable factory’, they lost points.
The participants were incentivized for how accurate their decisions were, in the form of a cash payment for an undisclosed amount.
The stress component was added before the game where 40 individuals were asked to give a public speech that would be judged by a panel of experts, causing them to feel stressed and anxious.
Researchers saw that under stress, the volunteers needed weaker evidence to reach the conclusion of being in the undesirable factory. However, stress didn’t really shift the strength of the evidence needed to reach the conclusion that they were in the desirable factory.
Professor Tali Sharot at UCL explains, “Our research suggests that under stress, people weigh each piece of evidence that supports undesirable conclusions more than when they are relaxed. In contrast, how they weigh the evidence that supports desirable conclusions is not affected by stress. As a result, people are more likely to conclude the worst is true when they are stressed.”
Study author Laura Globig added, “We usually think of stressful situations as a hindrance to our decision-making process. But the pattern of learning we have uncovered may counterintuitively be adaptive, because negative beliefs may drive people to be extra cautious when in threatening environments.”
Monit Khanna, Indiatimes
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