Imagine Before You Decide: Episodic Simulation Increases the Likelihood of Choosing the Simulated Option

Abstract

Episodic simulation – the act of projecting oneself into the future – affects people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Across six studies, we tested the possibility that simulation affects decisions, specifically, that people are more likely to choose options they simulate. Study 1 first established a correlation between how much people spontaneously simulated an option for an upcoming personal decision over one week, and the likelihood that they would choose that option. Studies 2a and 2b demonstrated that simulation causally increased the likelihood a person would choose the simulated option for their personal decision and decreased the likelihood they would choose the non-simulated option. Finally, Studies 3, 4a, and 4b, demonstrated that simulation shapes decisions in controlled laboratory experiments where options were matched on initial preference. Episodic simulation might contribute to a feedback loop in which people simulate options they prefer, thereby making them even more likely to choose those options.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 2 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.