Too long didn’t read? Goal Certainty and its’ Association with Information searching and planning

Abstract

Abstract Certainty for the future resembles a double-edged sword, reflecting high confidence, possibly promoting ignorance. Certainty for the future has been linked to antisocial behavior in goal setting and less information searching related to societal events, but certainty for personal goals and information searching have not been studied together. Bridging this gap, the current research explores the potential associations between goal certainty and information searching, as well as extending goal certainty to planning behavior. In pre-registered hypotheses, we expected goal success certainty and goal failure certainty to negatively relate to 1) effort in information searching, and 2) effort into planning. To test these hypotheses, we employed a cross-sectional study on a convenience sample (n = 191). Participants generated goals freely, completed self-reported measures on goal certainty and exploratory variables, were free to search for information on a digital display board, and generated plans for their goal. Both outcome variables were measured in seconds spent, as well as clicks on the digital display board, and characters used in planning. A series of multiple regressions showed no support for pre-registered hypotheses. Neither goal success certainty, nor goal failure certainty were associated with information searching. Neither goal success certainty nor goal failure were associated with planning. We discussed limitations and exploratory analyses. Exploratory analyses indicate a boundary condition for more goal success certainty and less information searching, but further research is needed. This study kicks off a new conversation about certainty, as goal certainty compared to other research was not linked to cognitive shortcomings.