A new study explores the psychological mechanisms and emotions linked to waiting, and more specifically to impatience.
- Participants are willing to pay a dollar more to have a transaction cleared quickly and not think about it again.
- They agree to put in 15% more work to complete a task if it can be completed sooner.
- Frustration increases as the end of the wait approaches.
Delays on public transport, waiting on the phone with customer service, queues that are too long, traffic jams… On a daily basis, our patience is often put to the test. But what makes us impatient? What emotions does this generate and influence our decision-making? These are the questions facing Annabelle Roberts, a PhD in behavioral science and assistant professor of marketing at Texas McCombsin the United States, responds in work published in the journal Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The desire for closure, a psychological spring of patience
The first thing Annabelle Roberts is interested in is the desire for closure that leads people, counter-intuitively, to prefer to put in more effort or pay more to reach a quick conclusion. Concretely, during this work, Annabelle Roberts observed that participants are willing to pay a dollar more for a transaction to be settled quickly and not think about it anymore. Likewise, they agree to provide 15% more work to complete a task if it can be completed sooner.
Impatience: frustration intensifies as the end approaches
Regarding the emotions of waiting, Annabelle Roberts found that frustration increased when the end was near. “When you expect the wait to end soon, you become more impatient as that wait approaches. [finalité]“, she explains to earth.com.
To measure it, she studies concrete situations such as waiting for the Covid-19 vaccine or a bus, but also the 2020 presidential election. Thus, she notes that the impatience of the supporters of the two candidates increased as the vote count progressed. “Even those who expected their candidate not to win, they just wanted to get it over with, she indicates. It shows the desire for closure and how it manifests with expectation.”
For Annabelle Roberts, these conclusions could be useful in marketing, to imagine waiting systems that are less frustrating for customers, such as, for example, preparing them for longer delays. Another possible application: in business, to better manage teams. “We see that impatience is not limited to this myopic desire for reward, assures Annabelle Roberts. It’s also about crossing goals off their list, not letting the goal hang over them.“
