Uncertainty can be very stressful

Some people would rather receive clear negative information than deal with ambiguity or uncertainty, University of Toronto researchers said.

Study authors Jacob Hirsh and Michael Inzlicht looked at the response of the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain area associated with error-monitoring and conflict-related anxiety.

The researchers found that individuals with high levels of neuroticism — a personality trait related to negative emotion and anxiety — showed stronger responses in this brain region when they were given uncertain feedback, compared to when they were given unambiguous negative feedback.

Uncertainty can be very stressful, Hirsh, a doctoral student, said in a statement. What this study shows is that neurotic individuals are actually more comfortable with clear negative information than they are with uncertainty — even when the outcome of that uncertainty could be positive.

In other words, people who are high in neuroticism appear to prefer the devil they know over the devil they don’t know, Hirsh said.