Making everyday decisions seems easy enough. But new research from Stevens Institute of Technology suggests that too much knowledge can lead people to make worse decisions, pointing to a critical gap in our understanding of how new information interacts with prior knowledge and beliefs.

Kleinberg and her team, found that when the problem was about something they were already familiar with (like finances and retirement, for example) people became less confident in their choices and made worse decisions, suggesting that their prior knowledge got in the way of choosing the best outcome. (1)

Arrogant man.

Let your instinct guide you.

Feel your feelings.

There is God inside everything you don’t know.

You have been wandering in this forest forever.

And within the mist of ignorance.

Beyond rivers you cannot see.

Beyond places you wished they’d never be.

You keep walking.

Knowing a clearing will soon come to thee.

Not because of what you know.

But especially because you have never seen one…