If you've ever started a sentence with, " If I were you…"or found yourself scratching your head at a colleague's headache over a decision when the answer is crystal-clear, there's a scientific reason behind it. Our own decision-making abilities can become declined over the course of the day causing indecision or poor choices, but choosing on behalf of someone else is an enjoyable task that doesn't suffer the same trouble.
The problem is "decision fatigue (疲劳)", a psychological phenomenon that greatly damages the quality of your choices after a long day of decision making, says Evan Polman, a leading psychologist.
Physicians who have been on the job for several hours, for example, are more likely to prescribe antibiotics (抗生素) to patients when it's unwise to do so. "Presumably (据推测) it's because it's simple and easy to write a prescription and consider a patient case closed rather than investigate further," Polman says.
But decision fatigue goes away when you are making the decision for someone else. When people imagine themselves as advisers and imagine their own choices as belonging to someone else, they feel less tired and rely less on decision shortcuts to make those choices. "By taking upon the role of adviser rather than decision maker, one does not suffer the consequences of decision fatigue," he says. "It's as if there's something fun and liberating about making someone else's choice. "
Getting input from others not only offers a fresh perspective and thought process; it often also includes riskier choices. While this sounds undesirable, it can be quite good, says Polman. "When people experience decision fatigue-when they are tired of making choices-they have a tendency to choose to go with the status quo, " he says. "But it can be problematic, since a change in the course of action can sometimes be important and lead to a positive outcome. "