{"id":59675,"date":"2022-02-06T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=59675"},"modified":"2022-02-14T13:55:59","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T17:55:59","slug":"ambiguity-aversion-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambiguity Aversion Bias: Better the Devil You Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is ambiguity aversion bias? Why do people go to such great lengths to avoid ambiguity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ambiguity aversion bias is the root of the adage \u201cbetter the devil you know.\u201d Even if the situation is bad, you\u2019d rather stay than face the uncertainty of leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s why we go to such great lengths to avoid uncertainty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ambiguity-aversion\"><strong>Ambiguity Aversion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ambiguity aversion bias is<strong> the human tendency to dislike uncertainty. <\/strong>Humans would go to great lengths to avoid uncertainty. For example, say you\u2019re stuck in a job you hate and are offered a new job in a field you know nothing about but <em>might<\/em> like\u2014you\u2019re not quite sure. Despite not enjoying your current job, you\u2019ll probably choose to stay: Your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/fear-of-uncertainty\/\">fear of uncertainty<\/a> over the new job makes you choose the unhappiness you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uncertainty is a lack of concrete facts about an outcome. For early humans, lacking facts was deadly: If you didn\u2019t know which plants were edible or where predators lived, you died. Thus, humans evolved to avoid uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, <strong>uncertainty is very prevalent and thus unavoidable in modern society. <\/strong>While the ideal approach to this rampant uncertainty would be to<strong> <\/strong>learn to accept and work with it, Dobelli argues, this is near impossible: Your tolerance for uncertainty is pre-determined by how your amygdala, which processes emotions, forms. (Shortform note: Dobelli claims uncertainty resilience is biologically determined. However, others argue that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/anxiety-files\/200809\/second-week-accepting-uncertainty-end-your-worries#:~:text=The%20second%20step%20in%20our%20approach%20is,Unravel%20Your%20Fears%20Before%20They%20Unravel\">you can increase resilience through \u201cflooding,\u201d<\/a> during which you expose yourself to increasing amounts of uncertainty. After the initial exposure period, your brain becomes bored with the uncertainty and accepts it.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is ambiguity aversion bias? Why do people go to such great lengths to avoid ambiguity? Ambiguity aversion bias is the root of the adage \u201cbetter the devil you know.\u201d Even if the situation is bad, you\u2019d rather stay than face the uncertainty of leaving. Here&#8217;s why we go to such great lengths to avoid uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,160],"tags":[576],"class_list":["post-59675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science","tag-the-art-of-thinking-clearly","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ambiguity Aversion Bias: Better the Devil You Know - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ambiguity aversion bias is the root of the adage \u201cbetter the devil you know.\u201d Here&#039;s why we go to such great lengths to avoid ambiguity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ambiguity Aversion Bias: Better the Devil You Know\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ambiguity aversion bias is the root of the adage \u201cbetter the devil you know.\u201d Here&#039;s why we go to such great lengths to avoid ambiguity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-06T17:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-14T17:55:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/swan-uncertainty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"777\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"515\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Ambiguity Aversion Bias: Better the Devil You Know\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-06T17:48:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-14T17:55:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/\"},\"wordCount\":277,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/swan-uncertainty.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Art of Thinking Clearly\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ambiguity-aversion-bias\/\",\"name\":\"Ambiguity Aversion Bias: Better the Devil You Know - 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