Choice Blindness in a Military Setting

ObjectiveWe examined the impact of choice blindness in applied military contexts.BackgroundChoice Blindness occurs in intention-directed decision making when an individual fails to detect when a previously chosen option is covertly changed and confabulates, providing a false justification for why they selected the non-chosen option. Approximately 67-75% of people show Choice Blindness when tested.MethodWe investigated Choice Blindness in simulated military tasks using two experiments. Novices (Experiment 1) and experts (Experiment 2) went through an all-source intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) scenario with a primary goal of determining why missiles were moved. Participants chose which intelligence (information) source was most critical between pairs on each trial, then were presented with their chosen intelligence and asked to explain their choice. The selected intelligence was covertly switched on trials 3, 6, and 9 of a 9-trial sequence.Results76% of participants failed to detect the switch in Experiment 1. After accounting for individuals who ignored the switch, the remaining participants who exhibited Choice Blindness constituted about 20-25% of the sample. In both experiments, approximately 50% of participants failed to detect any of the switched intelligence sources without confabulating, including the ISR Subject Matter Experts who participated in Experiment 2.ConclusionBoth experts and novices showed a similar propensity to choice blindness in an applied military task.ApplicationIn a military context, an operator succumbing to choice blindness could be potentially dangerous, leading to improper communication, or reduced decision-making efficacy.