I experience this bias all the time. When I am choosing a restaurant, I am more likely to go to one I am familiar with because their are too many unknown factors with going to a new restaurant such as will the food be good? What would I order? Is it worth the money? Will they have a long wait?...The new restaurant has to many ambiguous qualities for me to overcome the barrier. As a result, I stick to the same restaurants and the only time I discover a new place is through a friend (usually because I go with them to the new place and if it is a type of food I haven't tried I just copy their order or ask what is good.)
Another example is working out. When you walk into a gym, there are an overwhelming amount of choices for what you can do. Conversely, the results are not necessarily clear. What should I do? How long should I do it for etc. There are so many variables that go into getting the results you want that it can be overwhelming. Again because the task is so ambiguous you will be more likely to leave and not do anything.
Overcoming Ambiguity Bias
The way to overcome ambiguity bias is pretty straightforward. First, you have to recognize what is going on. This is the hard part. I wanted to eat sushi yesterday, but I can't go to a regular sushi place it is too expensive to feed me so I usually go to an all-you-can-eat place that my friends found. The problem was I was not in the area to go to my usual spot. When I yelped sushi places I couldn't determine if they were all you can eat places. Normally, I would be overwhelmed by the ambiguity, however, I realized the problem could be solved pretty easily. Yelp allow you to call the restaurant straight from the app, so I called a few of the sushi places close by removing the ambiguity (unfortunately none of the places close by had all you can eat...)
Once you realize you are refraining from making a decision because something is ambiguous, you need to determine what needs to be answered in order to make a decision. I realized that it was needing to know whether they offered an all you can eat option. At the gym maybe it is a defined program so you know exactly what to do and how much to see your desired results. At this step ask the question: What is keeping me from making a decision?
Finally, seek out that information. I called the restaurants and asked if they had all you can eat. When I found out none of them did I made my decision to go home and eat something else.
The Problem with Ambiguity
The problem with ambiguity and achieving long term behaviors is that it stresses your cognitive abilities. Because of the effect it has on your ability to make decisions many times you will just not make the decision. You need to be motivated enough to overcome this barrier. Hopefully by knowing this information it will begin lowering the effort it takes to make informed, conscious decisions when you want to.
Have a great start to the weekend!
Andrew
Twitter: @andrewzimbd