Scientists reveal a widespread but previously unidentified psychological phenomenon

Scientists reveal a widespread but previously unidentified psychological phenomenon

Many people will continue with a longer, less efficient path to a goal rather than backtrack and take a shortcut — even when the backtracking would save time and effort. A new series of studies published in Psychological Science reveals that this behavior, called “doubling-back aversion,” emerges in both physical and mental tasks, and is driven not by mistaken cost estimates but by how people think about their past and future effort. Psychologis…