Uncertainty Can Add Excitement to Your Life - East Idaho News

Uncertainty Can Add Excitement to Your Life

  Published at

Getty 102014 Uncertain?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1413825496465iStock/Thinkstock(HONG KONG) — It’s said that people like a sure thing. However, uncertainty can be more exciting.

That’s what’s called the motivating-uncertainty effect, according to researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and University of Hong Kong.

Apparently, while knowing the outcome of something provides a relative degree of comfort, uncertainty is seen as a way to motivate people.

To demonstrate this, the researchers ran several experiments.  One included splitting college students into two groups. The first was told they’d received $2 for drinking an entire glass of water while the other group was told the reward would be either $1 or $2 for completing the same task.

It turned out that more people who were uncertain about what the reward would be finished the water.

The researchers surmised that when people are uncertain about outcomes, it can make the situation seem more like a game than work.

Therefore, they said, managers can possibly use this information as an incentive to motivate workers.


Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION