To Decide or to Not Decide, That is the Choice

The following chart illustrates the gross disparity in percentages of the population who consent to donate their organs in European countries:

Why the big gap? (70%)

The obvious answer lies in the way the question is posed. If the population is asked to opt-in to donate their organs, the results end up looking like the countries in yellow, but if the population is asked to opt-out if they do not wish to donate their organs, you end up with statistics similar to the countries portrayed in blue.

Why is this?

This is seemingly counter-intuitive as it implies that people are generally not all that concerned whether or not they donate their organs. Is this true? You would think it would mean a great deal to people whether or not they donated their organs.

The answer is a surprising one. It turns out that we humans have difficulty dealing with complex problems. When we don't have what to base our decisions on, we opt out of making the decisions altogether, even when the decisions mean so much to us.

Ever find yourself procrastinating about making a decision? Often this is because we simply don't know what to base our decisions on!