Scientists Explain Responses under Stress

Varieties

July 31st, 6:30am

London - Asharq Al-Awsat

A trader in the currency pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 2010 (John Gress / Reuters)

People are quicker to jump to the worst conclusion when they are stressed, new research suggests. The study into the subject found you're far more likely to reach undesirable conclusions based on weaker evidence than when you're relaxed. In other words, you'll always see the worst possible scenario, reported The Metro. Professor Tali Sharot, from University College London, explained: "Many of the most significant choices you will make, from financial decisions to medical and professional ones, will happen while you feel stressed. Often these decisions require you to first gather information and weigh the evidence." "For example, you may consult multiple physicians before deciding on a best course of medical treatment. We wanted to find out: does feeling stressed change how you process and use the information you gather? Our research suggests that under stress, people weigh each piece of evidence that supports undesirable conclusions more than when they are relaxed. In contrast, how they weigh evidence that supports desirable conclusions is not affected by stress. As a result, people are more likely to conclude the worst is true when they are stressed," Sharot said. The small study saw 91 volunteers play a categorization game, in which they could gather as much evidence as they wanted to decide whether they were in a desirable environment (associated with rewards) or an undesirable environment (associated with losses). The participants were incentivized for accuracy. Before playing the game, 40 of them were told they had to give a public speech, which would be judged by a panel of experts, prompting them to feel stressed and anxious. UCL researchers found that under stress, the volunteers needed weaker evidence to reach the conclusion of being in the undesirable environment. But the stress did not change the strength of the evidence needed to reach the conclusion they were in the desirable environment, the study found.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3107611/scientists-explain-responses-under-stress