Are findings on uncertainty transferable to indecisiveness? – Conceptual relationships, critical boundary conditions, and implications for application

关于不确定性的发现是否会导致优柔寡断？

• 批准号: 427465870
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Alexander L. Gerlach, since 1/2020
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl für Psychologische Methodenlehre
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/427465870?language=en
• 关键词: findings; uncertainty; transferable; indecisiveness; Conceptual

Indecisiveness is the chronicle inability to choose due to a fear of making a wrong decision. Indecisiveness is typically considered to be dysfunctional. It can be observed across various psychological disorders and is one of the diagnosis criteria for depression. However, little is known about its underlying psychological mechanisms and potential ways of treatment. Although indecisive individuals are characterized by strong feelings of uncertainty, only few studies have drawn upon existing findings on uncertainty to gain a better understanding of indecisiveness, despite uncertainty being well-studied and providing established findings in psychological research. In the light of the close relationship between indecisiveness and uncertainty, it appears promising to benefit from knowledge on uncertainty as a basis to investigate underlying processes and possible interventions of indecisiveness. The proposed studies therefore aim to use insights from uncertainty research in order to, ultimately, identify starting points for the reduction of indecisiveness. This aim is pursued in three steps: (1.) The concepts of indecisiveness and uncertainty are compared, outlining similarities and differences. (2.) The transferability of findings concerning uncertainty to indecisiveness is tested and limitations of this transferability are determined. (3.) Initial evidence for the utility of these results when planning interventions against indecisiveness is gathered. The expectations are that (1.) indecisiveness and uncertainty are found to be similar but differentiable concepts, (2.) consequences and antecedents of uncertainty can reasonably be transferred to indecisiveness, but limitations apply in certain cases, and (3.) results are relevant for potential treatment of indecisiveness and can be applied to clinical samples with pathological indecisiveness. Ten experiments are presented to test these assumptions, including innovative empirical methods (e.g. Ecological Momentary Intervention) and a clinical sample.

优柔寡断是由于害怕做出错误的决定而无法选择的历史。优柔寡断通常被认为是功能失调。它可以在各种心理障碍中观察到，也是抑郁症的诊断标准之一。然而，对其潜在的心理机制和潜在的治疗方法知之甚少。虽然优柔寡断的人的特点是强烈的不确定性的感觉，只有少数研究已经利用现有的不确定性的研究结果，以获得更好的理解犹豫不决，尽管不确定性被很好地研究，并提供了心理学研究的既定结果。鉴于犹豫不决和不确定性之间的密切关系，似乎有希望受益于知识的不确定性作为一个基础，调查的基本过程和可能的干预犹豫不决。因此，拟议的研究旨在利用不确定性研究的见解，以最终确定减少犹豫不决的起点。这一目标分三步实现：（1）犹豫不决和不确定性的概念进行了比较，概述了相似性和差异。（2.）关于不确定性犹豫不决的调查结果的可转移性进行了测试，并确定了这种可转移性的局限性。（3.）初步证据表明，这些结果的效用时，计划对犹豫不决的干预措施收集。期望是（1.）犹豫不决和不确定性被发现是相似但可区分的概念，（2）不确定性的后果和前因可以合理地转移到犹豫不决，但在某些情况下存在局限性，以及（3）结果与犹豫不决的潜在治疗相关，并且可以应用于具有病理性犹豫不决的临床样品。十个实验来测试这些假设，包括创新的经验方法（如生态瞬时干预）和临床样本。