We instinctively tend toward solutions that consist of adding something rather than subtracting something, even if the subtraction would be superior

Fillon, Adrien A., Fabien Girandola, Nathalie Bonnardel, and Lionel Souchet. 2022. “People Systematically Overlook Subtractive Changes (2021): Replication and Extension.” PsyArXiv. October 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/4jkvn

Abstract: People systematically overlook subtractive changes and favor additive ones when generating new ideas. In a preregistered experiment conducted via the Prolific platform among French adults (N = 477), we replicated Experiments 2, 3 and 4 in Adams and colleagues (2021)’s study. We replicated the overlooking of subtraction, as participants generated 1155 additive ideas and only 297 subtractive ideas. Cueing participants (“Remember that you can add things or take them away”) increased the percentage who generated at least one subtractive idea (overall OR = 2.52, improvement condition, ϕ = 0.18, make-it-worse condition, ϕ = 0.24).

Results therefore provided empirical support for the overlooking of subtractive changes hypothesis. We also found that norms affected the generation of new ideas (descriptive OR = 7.49, injunctive OR = 6.86). Cues and injunctive (but not descriptive) norms were both related to the asymmetry.