The Impact of Ambiguity on the Psychology of Mind Wandering
As we've seen, the right amount of ambiguity can cultivate a deeper connection. It's a mystery that cries out for explanation. And when paired with a positive outcome, such as when The Berghain Bouncer gives a nod of approval to enter his exclusive nightclub, we naturally explain this in the most positive, deeply personal, and self-enhancing way.
But, of course, the bouncer's neck swivels along both dimensions. He turns away many more than he allows in.
Ambiguity enhances a positive outcome. Does it do the same for a negative one? Unfortunately not. Ambiguity lets our minds wander in whatever direction it is already headed. It takes a positive outcome to new heights, and a negative one to new lows. In other words, ambiguity has a clear dark side.
The Psychology of Mind Wandering
To understand the psychology of negative ambiguity, we must first understand the psychology of mind wandering. It's human nature for our thoughts to stray from the present moment. Sure, we may perceive time in the present moment, but we typically think about things other than the here and now.
In a 2010 experiment by Matthew Killingsworth and Dan Gilbert of Harvard University, participants simply went about their day and were pinged on their phones at random intervals. On these spontaneous occasions, the app prompts them to record their thoughts: "What's on your mind?"
The study provided incredible insights into the nature of mind wandering. About half the time, people were thinking about something very different than the situation at hand. If they were shopping for groceries, they weren't thinking about shopping for groceries - but instead, their mind was wandering into old memories or delving into future contemplation.
Most interestingly, the results showed that mind wandering was associated with negative mood. That is, when people's minds are adrift, they are significantly less happy. Like the participants in the study, we tend to ruminate about things that have already happened, and we worry about things in the future that may never transpire. As Mark Twain penned, "I've been through some terrible things in my life. Some of which actually happened."
And here's where the power of ambiguity comes in - it's like steroids for gloomy mind wandering. When an adverse event is also ambiguous - lacking a clear explanation or reason, it comes to us to create this. This puts our negative ruminations into overdrive. Consider the following example. You find out that someone you like and respect just doesn't feel the same way. In fact, you learn that they actively despise you. Ouch.
Now consider two additional scenarios:
You learn that they don't like you because they think you have a terrible fashion sense
You never get any information about why they dislike you
Which feels worse? They both may be unpleasant, but the second feels far worse. Your mind naturally searches for an explanation to make sense of it. It can't just be random - it needs to have a reason. You're left playing cognitive gymnastics trying to develop a story to make sense of this scenario.
If they hate you for your fashion crimes, whether you agree with it or not, at least you have an explanation. Reasons provide closure, and closure keeps our minds from wandering. The world is a big messy place, and to a large extent, negative ambiguity is unavoidable. Bad things happen, and not always for a satisfactory reason. In the digital world, however, these scenarios don't just arise naturally - they're deliberately engineered.
Ambiguity in Twitter's Verification Process
Oftentimes, digital platforms attempt to benefit from the ambiguity of a positive scenario, while disregarding the influence of that same ambiguity in unfavorable experiences. Consider Twitter's verification system, for example. Getting verified on Twitter may not provide the immediate elation that Sven's nod provides, but it nonetheless is a clear example of selection design.
As of 2023, the path to having a blue checkmark is simple and straightforward: You're either celebrity Elon Musk personally likes, or you pay $8 a month. Traditionally though, there was a lot of ambiguity around who received a blue check mark. A-list celebrities, journalists had them, and prominent brands and organizations had them. And generally speaking, everyday people did not have them. But in between - the vast gray area between A-lister and everyday Joe - it was a total mystery who got verified and who didn't.
Of those who are verified, there’s generally a strong follower count and a vague sense of internet celebrity. At the same time, however, there were hordes of semi-famous people with large legions of followers and no blue check mark to show for it. There seems to be little discernable pattern for who’s verified and who isn’t.
Into this void stepped all kinds of theories and conspiratorial thinking. If you get verified, the self-enhancement of positive ambiguity kicks in. "Of course, I get the blue checkmark - I'm amazing!" But if you aren't donned a blue checkmark (as using you wanted one), you're left to discover your own explanation, and to find whatever hidden trait it is about you that's preventing this recognition.
Negative Ambiguity and The Psychology of Closure
With no satisfactory answer, the mind ruminates and wanders into distressing, psychological territory. The author, Thomas Chatterton Williams, found precisely this type of frustration on Twitter. With two successful books, several op-eds in major media outlets, and over 140K followers, he would seem a shoo-in for a blue checkmark. After all, many contemporaries, with seemingly far less of a platform, have been blue-checked for years. And yet, no. In July 2021, he tweeted,
Ambiguity on Twitter / Source: Twitter
What's interesting about Williams isn't the fact that his verification was denied, or that he’s frustrated by that news. Myriads of other users with comparable public platforms have found themselves in the same spot. What's interesting is the additional anguish of not knowing why. In the very next tweet, he writes,
Ambiguity and Frustration on Twitter / Source: Twitter
Could the verification be denied because he tweeted a controversial news story? We'll never know. The ambiguity is tortuous. The phrase, "may, of course, mean nothing but feels bizarre," is telling. When no actual explanation is given, a myriad of potential personal and situational explanations will spring to mind as potential reasons. Our mind goes all sorts of places, searching n vain for answers, all of which "may, of course, mean nothing but feels bizarre."
Final Words on The Psychology of Ambiguity
Explanations are concrete and provide closure, a concrete barrier for our wandering minds to come up against. A negative, ambiguous outcome leaves the mind with the near-impossible task of finding its own closure.
The mind naturally wanders; when it does, it often goes into dark places. We’ll go to great lengths to avoid an idle mind. Dan Gilbert and colleagues - the same research group behind the mind-wandering experiments discussed above- ran a variation of this study in 2014, giving participants the option of either sitting and doing nothing or giving themselves mild electric shocks. It's a simple choice: either be alone with your thoughts or shock yourself. The vast majority of the participants chose to shock themselves.
Even as a baseline, without any negative prompting, we're averse to our mind wandering. It’s human nature to stray from the current moment. Something - anything, is preferable to sitting alone with one's thoughts. Add a dash of negative thinking and a sprinkle of mystery, and you can quickly see how pernicious ambiguity can be.
There's much to say about these difficulties we often exhibit with our mind wandering and general aversion towards ambiguous situations. Acceptance and commitment may play an important role. Should we come to be comfortable with ambiguity? And more at ease with our own thoughts?
These are big questions; each individual's answers are unique and personal. Suffice it to say, for now, that the influence of ambiguity is neither wholly positive, nor entirely negative. Instead, the impact of ambiguity is itself ambiguous. So if we're prepared to benefit from Sven's ambiguous acceptance, we should be equally prepared for the ruminations that rejection may bring.
Photo by Uday Mittal via UnSplash
About the author
Matt Johnson, PhD is a researcher, writer, and consumer neuroscientist focusing on the application of psychology to branding. He is the author of the best-selling consumer psychology book Blindsight, and Branding That Means Business (Economist Books, Fall 2022). Contact Matt for speaking engagements, opportunities to collaborate, or just to say hello
References for The Psychology of Negative Ambiguity and Mind Wandering
Wilson, T. D., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., Gilbert, D. T., Ellerbeck, N., Hahn, C., ... & Shaked, A. (2014). Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind. Science, 345(6192), 75-77.
Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932-932.
