[SEQ RERUN] Harder Choices Matter Less

[MinibearRex]

Today’s post, Harder Choices Matter Less was originally published on 29 August 2008. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):

If a choice is hard, that means the alternatives are around equally balanced, right?

Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).

This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we’ll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky’s old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was Against Modal Logics, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.

Sequence reruns are a community-driven effort. You can participate by re-reading the sequence post, discussing it here, posting the next day’s sequence reruns post, or summarizing forthcoming articles on the wiki. Go here for more details, or to have meta discussions about the Rerunning the Sequences series.

[palladias]

I think one thing that makes balanced decisions hard is the feeling that we’re publicly voting against the option we didn’t pick. We may know that the two sides were balanced, but, in normal conversation, people don’t talk very much about levels of confidence, so the choice may signal that we had a strong preference. When we’re choosing between two good things (or two people), it looks like we didn’t care that much about the one we didn’t pick. And it probably won’t help to say, “No, no, I care, I’m just indifferent between these choices!”

If we don’t want to use dithering as a signal that we are attracted to both options, what are some other options when out in conventional society? (I’ve just trained my friends to take me literally if I preface a statement with “Take me literally” which really speeds up choosing a restaurant discussions).

[[deleted]]

Well… if you can’t decide between them, they must be around equally appealing, right? Equally balanced pros and cons? So the choice must matter very little—you may as well flip a coin. The alternative is that the pros and cons aren’t equally balanced, in which case the decision should be simple. … I do think there’s something to be said for agonizing over important decisions, but only so long as the agonization process is currently going somewhere, not stuck.

I have a hard time applying this to those choices that I most associate with agony, either my own (break up with someone or not) or imagined (jump out of a burning building or stay; give up one child or the other).

[MileyCyrus]

I was reminded of this piece when I was playing Catan. It so tempting to agonize over where I should put my first settlement, but it’s not worth wasting the other players time.

[Incorrect]

If a choice is hard, that means the alternatives are around equally balanced, right?

Subjectively, sure. But isn’t the important factor the expected marginal utility of further analysis?