When making decisions, people must determine not only what to choose but also when to choose. Do individuals modulate behavior in response to potential risks associated with delay in determining when to choose? The present work provides evidence that at least one group of people-indecisive individuals-do not. Two process-tracing studies simulated a 5-day college-course selection period in which new course alternatives appeared on each day. In a risk-free condition, no risks were associated with delay of decision making over the days. In a risk condition, each day of delay was associated with a risk of loss of existing course alternatives. Unlike decisive individuals, who modulated days of deliberation in response to presence versus absence of risk, indecisive individuals did not. The results illustrate not that indecisive individuals show uniformly increased delay relative to others, but rather that their delay behavior may be more striking in its unresponsiveness to risk.

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Future research with this experimental task can separately investigate the role of acquisition, retention, impulsivity, and sensitivity to constraints in clinical hoarding to inform our understanding of this disorder.

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To choose or not to choose 2 Acknowledgements I am fortunate to have received much assistance and support from colleagues, friends, and family while writing this thesis and throughout my time at Wesleyan. Professor Andrea Patalano cannot be thanked enough. Without a doubt, working with Andrea has been an extraordinarily influential and rewarding academic experience. Her acumen, work ethic, and conviviality are inspiring to all those who have the pleasure to work with her as closely as I have. I gratefully acknowledge the indefatigable assistance of Kirsten Haller, the professor-to-be, for always keeping me organized and on track. Imploring Kirsten to join the Patalano Lab turned out to be an especially constructive decision: Not only did engaging research emerge from our collaboration, but an enriching friendship was also formed. Additionally, I thank my thesis committee members, Professor John Seamon and Professor Steve Stemler, for their support, accommodation, and advice throughout the thesis writing process. For dedicating countless hours to helping me analyze data, I am indebted to Manolis Kaparakis. His tutelage and amity, both in the QAC lab and on the squash courts, have been immensely valuable and enjoyable. Likewise, I have benefited greatly from my past research collaborations with Professor John Seamon and Professor Richard Boyd; this thesis greatly benefited from the many skills I developed while working with these two outstanding mentors.