Internal Choices Are Weaker Than Those Dictated by Outside World, Scientists Say

The underlying sense of being in control of our own actions is challenged by new research from University College London (UCL) which demonstrates that the choices we make internally are weak and easily overridden compared to when we are told which choice to make.

The research, which is published today in Cerebral Cortex, is one of the first neuroscientific studies to look at changing one's mind in situations where the initial decision was one's own 'free choice'. Free choices can be defined as actions occurring when external cues are largely absent – for example, deciding which dish to choose from a restaurant menu.

The researchers asked study participants to choose which of two buttons they would press in response to a subsequent signal, while their brain activity was recorded using EEG (electroencephalogram). Some choices were made freely by the volunteers and other choices were instructed by arrows on a screen in front of them. The volunteers' choices were occasionally interrupted by a symbol asking them to change their mind, after they had made their choice, but before they had actually pressed the button.

First author Stephen Fleming, UCL Institute of Neurology, says: "When people had chosen for themselves which action to make, we found that the brain activity involved in changing one's mind, or reprogramming these 'free' choices was weak, relative to reprogramming of choices that were dictated by an external stimulus. This suggests that the brain is very flexible when changing a free choice – rather like a spinning coin, a small nudge can push it one way or the other very easily.

"The implication is that, despite our feelings of being in control, our own internal choices are flexible compared to those driven by external stimuli, such as a braking in response to a traffic light. This flexibility might be important - in a dynamic world, we need to be able to change our plans when necessary."

Patrick Haggard, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, adds: "Our study has two implications for our understanding of human volition. First, our brains contain a mechanism to go back and change our mind about our choices, after a choice is made but before the action itself. Our internal decisions are not set in stone, but can be re-evaluated right up to the last moment. Second, changing an internal choice in this way seems to be easier than changing a choice guided by external instructions.

"We often think about our own internal decisions as having the strength of conviction, but our results suggest that the brain is smart enough to make us flexible about what we want. The ability to flexibly adjust our decisions about what we do in the current situation is a major component of intelligence, and has a clear survival value."

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You Decide: Making a Good Decision or Avoiding a Bad One?

We feel good about a purchase if we believe we've made a decision that's in line with our goals. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research examines the ways consumers evaluate brand features to make choices.

"When there is a fit between people's goals and how information is acquired, these feelings are positive and thus enhance brand evaluations," write authors Echo Wen Wan (University of Hong Kong), Jiewen Hong (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and Brian Sternthal (Northwestern University).

According to the researchers, even seemingly complicated decisions fall into two categories: Either we want to make a good decision that will help us get ahead in our life—the accomplishment goal—or we want to avoid making a mistake—the safety goal. Depending on the situation, we may switch decision processes.

In four separate studies carried out in Hong Kong and Chicago, the authors tested subjects' reactions to varying marketing copy to determine how favorably they would rate products. They found that participants with accomplishment goals responded more positively to ads that conveyed a sense of rapid progress. An example of this would be reporting several brand features on each of several successive pages of a magazine.

"Those whose goal was accomplishment evaluated the brand more favorably when information was acquired in a manner that prompted a sense of rapid progress toward a choice than when the acquisition was perceived to provide an opportunity to consider all of the information in detail. In contrast, those with a safety goal evaluated the brand more favorably when they perceived that they had an opportunity to consider all information in detail," the authors explain.
"These findings have important implications for designing persuasive messages," write the authors. They believe marketers could boost product perceptions and potential sales by matching ad strategies to consumers' likely goals. For example, since toothpastes typically are used to prevent tooth decay (a safety goal), ads should use a simultaneous presentation of information. Teeth whiteners, which are used to gain a brighter smile (a cosmetic accomplishment), should be advertised in ways that make consumers perceive rapid progress in their decision processes.

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