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What's more important, a decision with life-long consequences, like getting married or moving? Or a decision about what to have for lunch? New research finds that we might magnify a seemingly trivial decision's importance—if we find it difficult and we spend a lot of time making it.
像结婚或者搬家这样影响一生的决定，和中午吃什么这样的决定，哪个更重要？新的研究发现我们可能放大了看似琐碎的决定的重要性——如果我们觉得很难做出决定，就会花很长时间来做这个决定。
In the study, volunteers chose between two flight options. One group was told the trip was long so it was important they chose the best option. The other group was told the trip was easy, so either option was fine. To manipulate the decision's difficulty the researchers presented the two options either in a readable type size or in a hard-to-see tiny size.
在实验中让志愿者在两列航班中做出选择。其中一组被告知旅途很长，做出最好的选择很重要。另一组被告知旅途很短，每趟航班都是不错的选择。为了控制难度，研究人员分别以两种字体呈现两种航班选择，一种是易于阅读的字号，一种是很难看得见的小字号。
When deciding about the tough trip, the subjects spent just as long deliberating over the easy to read options as the hard to read options. But for the unimportant decision, participants spent significantly more time with the hard-to-read option. In fact this group spent even more time than either of the groups faced with the important decision.
面临艰难旅途的那一组，研究对象在易读和难读的选择上逗留的时间一样长。但是面临轻松选择的那一组，参与者在难读的选择上花了大量时间。实际上，这组人花的时间比面临艰难旅途的那一组更多。
And this extra time and effort led subjects to believe the decision was important, despite being told it was an easy trip and so an easy decision. The study will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
尽管被告知这次旅途很轻松，选择很简单，但是多余的时间和努力会让对象们觉得这个决定很重要。这次研究将会刊登到《消费者研究》上。
So time equals difficulty, which then translates into importance, which leads to even more time spent deciding. The researchers call this predicament “decision quicksand.” Speaking of which, I think I'll have the BLT. Or maybe the chicken salad. Then again, the burger looks good…
那么时间与难度对等，难度也通常被解读为重要性，重要性又会导致人们耗费更多时间来抉择。研究人员称这种困境为“抉择困难的流沙”。说到这，我想我会选择培根、生菜和番茄三明治，又或者是鸡肉沙拉。又来了，汉堡包看起来也不错......
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