NOT knowing can be nerve-wracking.

Just ask the job applicant staring at the phone waiting to be called back for a second interview, or the family members pacing in the hospital waiting room. You can even ask the group of friends who decided to go on an overnight trip just that morning and are now pulling into the parking lot of the only hotel in town to find out there are vacant rooms for the night.

But uncertainty can have positive overtones as well. The best example might well be birthday presents; each wrapped gift offers the recipient a few seconds of wondering what might be inside.

Yih Hwai Lee of the National University of Singapore and Cheng Qui from the University of Hong Kong suggested another way uncertainty can bring about positive emotions, comparing the various reactions contest prize winners experience. People who know they?ve won a specific prize, Lee and Qui said, are less likely to feel good about it compared to people who know they?ve won, but don?t know exactly what the prize might be. The extra time prize winners have to dream and dream big about what might soon become theirs, apparently, can make all the difference.

The findings help explain the popularity of game shows such as ?Kwarta o Kahon?? and ?Deal or No Deal? where contestants have to decide if they want to accept the money being offered outright or go for the prize hidden away. The money is a sure thing, but imaginations are spurred on by what the prize might be, and that hope is what keeps the contestants playing on.

Role of imagination

Lee and Qui looked at the role of imagination in making uncertainty a positive experience by having a group of people play a game of ?spin the wheel,? though none of the participants knew they?d all walk away winners. The group was further subdivided into four: participants who were told exactly what they?d receive as a prize, those told they?d either receive stereo speakers or a radio set; those told they?d receive a ?consumer electronics product?; and those told they?d receive a ?music player.?

Participants were asked to score their reactions to winning a prize under each set of circumstances. Lee and Qui found that those who were told they?d won a ?consumer electronics product? had the most positive reaction because the phrase connoted a wealth of possible options.

The second most positive response came from the study participants who were told they?d won a ?music player.? The lowest favorable scores came from those who were told exactly what prize they?d receive, because they didn?t have to use their imaginations and get as excited over what they might be taking him, Lee and Qui theorized.

Another group tested

The researchers repeated the test with another group of people, each of whom had been told they?d won a prize in a lottery. Some of the participants were told they?d either won chocolates or candles, while others were told they?d won either a set of kitchen knives or a digital clock. Still others were only told they?d be receiving one of the items from the previously mentioned prize pairs.

When the researchers asked the group to score their reactions to the prize notifications, they again found that those who weren?t sure which prize they?d be getting were much more positive about having won than those who knew what they?d be getting.

?Individuals can indeed experience greater pleasure from uncertainty than from certainty,? Lee and Qih concluded in their study. ?Winning a lucky draw but not knowing the exact prize for a period of time would not only elicit greater immediate positive feelings than certainty, but it would also increase the duration of the positive feelings.?

The study was published online April 22 issue in the Journal of Consumer Research.

E-mail the author at massie@ massie.com.