Indecisiveness and informational tunnel vision

Previous research has indicated that indecisiveness is associated with informational tunnel vision, in that individuals scoring high on a measure of indecisiveness tend to gather more information about the alternative they ultimately choose, while largely neglecting other options. In the first study, a decision making paradigm was employed in which participants had to choose a college course from a set of five options. Findings confirmed that the score on a measure of indecisiveness correlated positively with the amount of information gathered concerning the ultimately chosen course, but not with the gathered information pertaining to non-chosen courses. In the second study, choice difficulty was manipulated by varying the distinctiveness of the courses. Again, indecisiveness seemed to be associated with tunnel vision, regardless of choice difficulty. Hence, the findings support the notion that indecisiveness limits people’s information gathering. It is proposed that this type of tunnel vision serves as a defence against a natural tendency to gather as much information as possible.