People have a more positive relationship with action than with inaction, expect more favorable outcomes from it, and would rather act than refrain from acting when in doubt

Are actions better than inactions? Positivity, outcome, and intentionality biases in judgments of action and inaction. Aashna Sunderrajan, Dolores Albarracín. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 94, May 2021, 104105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104105

Rolf Degen's take: People have a more positive relationship with action than with inaction, expect more favorable outcomes from it, and would rather act than refrain from acting when in doubt. https://t.co/OeZT2EY1yN https://t.co/f33Fv4F7lv

Highlights

• Despite the adaptive value of both action and inaction, people not only evaluate actions more favorably than inactions but also prefer to engage in them as well (action positivity bias)

• Preferences for action over inaction tend to be driven by biases of outcome positivity (action outcome bias) and intentionality (action intentionality bias), however, assumed outcome positivity is most influential than assumed intentionality

• An overall preference for action could become detrimental to health, therefore, understanding the magnitude of this bias in everyday life is vital

Abstract: Behavior varies along a continuum of activity, with effortful behaviors characterizing actions and restful states characterizing inactions. Despite the adaptive value of both action and inaction, we propose three biases that, in the absence of other information, increase the probability that people like, and want to pursue, action more than inaction: An action positivity bias, an action outcome bias, and an action intentionality bias. Across four experiments, participants not only evaluated actions more favorably than inactions (Experiment 1–3) but also chose to engage in actions more than inactions (Experiment 4). This action positivity bias was driven by the two interrelated biases of outcome positivity and intentionality (Experiments 1–3), such that actions (versus inactions) were spontaneously thought of as having more positive outcomes and as being more intentional. Moreover, these outcome differences played a stronger role in the action positivity bias than did the intentionality differences (Experiment 3). As balancing action and inaction is important for healthy human functioning, it is important to understand evaluative biases in this domain. All experiments were preregistered, and one involved a nationally representative sample.

Keywords: ActionInactionBiasEvaluationOutcomeIntentionality