Data from: Delegating decisions: recruiting others to make choices we might regret

Consumers typically prefer freedom of choice, but when faced with a choice they might regret, they may prefer freedom from choice. Eight experiments show that people delegate difficult decisions, regardless of the decision’s importance, and regardless of their potential surrogate’s expertise. Delegation stems from a desire to avoid responsibility for potentially making the wrong choice rather than simply the desire to avoid the possibility of a poor outcome: although anticipated disappointment with the outcome and anticipated regret about one’s decision both contribute to the decision to delegate, only anticipated regret directly leads people to delegate choices to others. Consequently, delegation is an appealing method for coping with difficult choices while allowing consumers to retain the benefits of choosing that they would forgo by opting out of the choice. Moreover, giving people the option to delegate makes them less prone to walk away from difficult choices empty-handed.消费者通常偏好选择自由，但当面临可能引发后悔的选择情境时，他们反而更倾向于免于选择的权利。八项实验结果显示，无论决策的重要性程度如何，也无论潜在委托代理人的专业能力高低，人们都会将棘手的决策委托给他人。人们选择委托决策，其根源在于规避因做出错误决策而承担责任的意愿，而非仅仅为了避免出现不佳结果的可能性：尽管对决策结果的预期失望与对自身决策的预期后悔，均会推动人们做出委托决策，但唯有预期后悔会直接促使人们将选择委托给他人。因此，委托决策是应对棘手选择的一种颇具吸引力的策略：它既能帮助消费者规避决策困境，又能保留他们若完全放弃选择便会丧失的决策收益。此外，为消费者提供委托选择的选项，会降低他们因难以抉择而空手离场的概率。