Cause of misjudgment № 4
Doubt-Avoidance Tendency
The mind is wired to remove the discomfort of doubt by reaching a decision fast — which is dangerous when the situation demands patient uncertainty.
Doubt is uncomfortable, and the brain is built to make that discomfort go away by jumping quickly to some conclusion. For most of human history this was useful: a creature paralyzed by indecision in front of a predator does not survive. The trouble is that the same machinery fires in situations where rushing to a decision is exactly the wrong move.
Munger noted that this tendency is triggered and amplified by two things in particular: puzzlement and stress. When people are confused or under pressure, the urge to resolve the doubt — to just decide and be done with it — gets stronger, not weaker. Salespeople, cult recruiters, and high-pressure negotiators understand this and deliberately manufacture confusion and time pressure so that the target grabs at the nearest available answer.
The practical defense is to recognize that the discomfort of not-knowing is a feeling, not a fact, and that some decisions are improved by deliberately sitting in doubt longer. Munger admired judges and scientists precisely because their professions are trained to suspend judgment until the evidence is in. When you feel the itch to “just decide” — especially under pressure or confusion — that itch is a signal to slow down, not speed up.
