Don’t let yourself be swayed by advice that goes against your better judgment. You will feel more guilty about the poor outcome of a decision if you followed someone’s advice against your better judgment than if you had made the decision on your own.
People are often swayed by advice, even if that advice goes against their better judgement. Should following the advice lead to a poor outcome, many believe they will not feel as guilty about the decision if they were following someone’s advice than if they made the decision on their own. The opposite is true. A series of experiments at Cornell University, which unpacks the psychology behind following advice against one’s better judgement, explains why.
The study first describes the difference between joint evaluations and separate evaluations. A joint evaluation involves two options that are evaluated comparatively. A separate evaluation involves a single option considered in isolation and is thus evaluated separately.
Making a decision is a joint evaluation since you are evaluating more than one course of action for example, “Should I go with option A or option B?”. In this joint evaluation, the advisor plays a role: “My advisor is recommending option B, but my judgement tells me to go for option A.”
Once you make a decision let’s say you decide to go with option B the evaluation of that decision is a separate evaluation that focuses only on the outcome of the option your picked, in this case option B. In this separate evaluation, the advisor’s role fades: you focus on the outcome for which you are responsible as the decision-maker. “My decision led to this negative outcome.”
Previous research has shown that separate evaluations lead to counterfactual thoughts. In this case, the counterfactual thought would be, “My decision could have led to this positive outcome.” This counterfactual thought highlights the control you had over the situation, which explains the increased guilt of following advice against one’s better judgement. The negative outcome did not occur by chance or wasn’t bad luck. It did not occur because you made a decision that turned out to be incorrect. It occurred because you chose to ignore your better judgement.
The study was based on a series experiments in which participants had the chance to win a prize from one of two lotteries Lottery A or Lottery B. Lottery A clearly had the better prizes but advisors in the experiments suggested participants go against their better judgement and choose Lottery B. By design, all the experiments ended with poor outcomes as participants won low value prizes such as a pencil or 10 cents. Survey questions at the end of the experiments were used to measure:
Higher scores reflected greater culpability, greater belief that the outcome could have been avoided, and greater sense of control, respectively.
Leaders are paid to make decisions, but they don’t do so alone. They receive input and advice on the decision from a variety of sources, although they know the decision is ultimately theirs to make. This study explores the psychological reasons for the unexpected power of advice in pushing decision-makers to go against their better judgement. The study reveals that the comforting notion one is less guilty for decisions based on advice is illusory: eventually decision-makers accept full responsibility for poor decisions, especially if the decision is made against one’s better judgement. The bottom line for all leaders: follow your instincts. Don’t ignore your better judgement unless there’s a very strong reason for following advice pointing you in a different direction.
Kaitlin Woolley’s profile at Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
https://business.cornell.edu/faculty-research/faculty/krw67/
Sunita Sah’s profile at Cornell University Health Policy Center
https://business.cornell.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ss3478/
Kicking Yourself: Going Against Your Inclinations Leads to Greater Feelings of Control and Culpability. Kaitlin Woolley and Sunita Sah. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. (January 27, 2025).
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