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The Effect of Response Options on Decisions and Subsequent Behavior: Sometimes Inaction is Better

Dartmouth College, cioffi{at}dartmouth.edu

Randy Garner

Sam Houston State University

An active decision can result in more extreme self-inference than a passive decision. In the present study, however, induced inaction had the greatest effect on later behavior Students were asked to indicate their intentions about donating blood the following week. The rate of nonresponding to this request was highest when the only provided response option was to actively convey an intention not to donate, and the actual blood donation rate among these nonresponders was high. Recipients of this response option may have suspended a decision about donation, a suspension which in turn could have increased the probability of eventual donation through one or more social and self perceptual pathways. The behavioral effect of response option frames can be significantly modified by specific features of the request situation.

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