The downside of backup plans

We are always told that we should have a backup plan. Backup plans are used when someone’s primary goals are not accomplished. In other words, people “fall back” on their backup plan if things don’t go according to planned with their original goal. They are typically viewed in a positive light.

A recent article entitled “How backup plans can harm goal pursuit: The unexpected downside of being prepared for failure” published in Organizational Behavior and Human Processes examined how backup plans affect performance. Shin and Milkman (2016) conducted a series of three experiments. The experiments entailed participants unscrambling sentences for a reward (e.g., a free snack) under various conditioners. Participants in the “backup” scenario were told to consider alternative ways to get a free snack in the event they don’t get it from the study (e.g., getting free food elsewhere on campus). Participants in the control group were not asked to think of an alternate. They were simply asked to proceed with the task without instructions.

Across the three studies, the researchers found that individuals in the “backup” group unscrambled less sentences than those in the control group. The researchers found that the individuals in the “backup” group valued the original goal (e.g., the free snack from the study) less than those in the control group. Thus, merely thinking about the backup plan reduces performance on the original goal by lowering the desire to achieve the goal.

Given the results of this study, it’s important to balance the costs and benefits of creating a backup plan. The costs of creating a backup plan include: a decreased desire to perform primary goals and decreased performance on that goal. However, the benefits of a backup plan include psychological insurance of failing to reach a primary goal.