Time pressure and decision making

The purpose of the present study was to determine if either time pressure or the perception of the sufficiency of time affects performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. One hundred and fifty four participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group completed the gambling task without significant time pressure while the second group completed the task under significant time pressure. Each group was further divided into two sub-groups. One sub-group was told that the time allotted was sufficient to complete the task while the second sub-group was informed the time allotted was insufficient to complete the task. Task performance, defined as explicit knowledge of the better decks and risk taking behavior, was explored under these time and sufficiency constraints. The major findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Participants who were advised that time was sufficient to complete the task outperformed those who were advised that time was insufficient to complete the task. (2) Participants who were given ample time to complete the task did not outperform those who were given less time to complete the task. (3) Sufficiency and time had an impact on explicit knowledge of which decks were good or bad. (4) Sufficiency and time did not have an effect on the selection of cards from risky or safe decks. Developers of time management products would be well advised to include exercises that would build the individuals confidence in completing tasks under stressed time limits. The goal is not to maximize our time but to optimize our abilities to make quality decisions within each moment of time.