Time is money: The advantages of quick and intuitive financial decision-making

Dual process models of reasoning and thinking styles suggest that deliberative decision processes and profound evaluation lead people to better financial decisions. However, recent developments in decision-making research indicate that under certain conditions, a more automatic evaluation can lead to better decisions whereas further deliberative and thorough evaluation may lead to biased decisions. Here, we examined the nature of basic financial decision-making based on an intuitive, more automatic evaluation and characterize their advantages and disadvantages compared to a deliberative deep examination. By manipulating response time on an online questionnaire, participants were forced to make inferences and financial decisions under an intuitive or a deliberative mode of thought. Unexpectedly, the results show that in specific situations financial decisions were better under an intuitive mode of thought than a more analytical and deliberative style.