Why you can’t trust survey results about how people feel about: tattoos, parenthood, or gender surgery

It’s basically impossible to get accurate answers about the effects of choices that are
a) big
b) irreversible
c) stigmatized (if you hold the “wrong” view about it)

This is why you can’t trust survey results about how people feel about:

• Tattoos
• Parenthood
• Gender surgery

The psychological need to believe they made the “right” choice is so strong that even if the person did indeed make the wrong choice, they can’t believe that and be happy at the same time.

So their brains will figure out ways to believe it was the right choice.

Which is healthy, actually!

If you’ve made a big irreversible decision, it’s good to make your peace with it.

It does introduce a massive bias into research though, for people who haven’t made the decision yet and are trying to figure out what’s the right decision for them.