Here's something you should know about yourself. When choosing between two options, your decision is heavily influenced by whether you are asking yourself: "which is better" or "which is worse." 1/9

In research by Shafir, scientists asked subjects which of these two vacation spots they'd PREFER: one with average weather, beaches, hotels, warm water and decent nightlife -- or one with great weather, beaches, and hotels, but cold water and no nightlife. Most chose the latter.
But when told to imagine they had reserved both and had to CANCEL one or the other: one with average weather, beaches, hotels, warm water and decent nightlife -- or one with great weather, beaches, and hotels, but cold water and no nightlife. Most chose the latter. 3/9
Same information, different choice, and the only difference was how the question was framed: which would you prefer or which would you cancel? 4/9
They also asked people to imagine deciding case for custody of a child. One parent had average income, health, work hours, rapport with the child, and a stable social life. The other had above average income, great rapport, but worked long hours and had an active social life. 5/9
When asked to AWARD custody, most people chose the above-average parent without a lot of spare time. When asked to DENY custody, most people chose the exact same parent. 6/9
Same information, different choice, and the only difference was how the question was framed: which would you award or which would you deny? 7/9
When looking for good reasons, you base your decision on what seems better-than-average. When looking for bad reasons, you base your decision on what seem worse-than-average. And you do this for everything -- potential partners, new cars, places to live, eat, work, etc. 8/9
This is the essence of motivated reasoning. You don't carefully contemplate all the pros and cons of your choices, you use either pros or cons as a guide depending on your motivation. In other words, when you are looking for a reason to choose A over B, you will find it. 9/9

More from Life

How to get smarter very fast:

Interact with smart people here on Twitter who have different world-views than you do.

And let them change your mind on something.

Here are the 30 people you should follow (along with my favorite tweet from each)👇👇

Twitter can be terrible if you follow negative people.

It can also be more valuable than a college degree if you follow (and network with) the right people.

You get to look right into their brain and read a daily narrative of HOW they think.

Ok lets go:

#1: @ShaanVP

You know he's all about venture capital based entrepreneurship. I'm about small (non-sexy) business. We disagree on a lot of stuff.

But he's done it and he's won. Bonus follow: @theSamParr (@myfirstmilpod podcast


#2: @fortworthchris

He is where I want to be in 15 years. Has built a massive real estate private equity firm from the ground up. Super grounded with what the way he does business and his podcast @theFORTpodcast is top


#3: @Julian

I'm a scattered thinker and procrastinator.

Julian is a master of clear thinking and simple but effective writing. A world class example of content marketing and

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