Why do people read negative Internet comments and do other things that will obviously be painful? Because humans have an inherent need to 1 uncertainty, according to a recent study in Psychological Science. The new research reveals that the need to know is so strong that people will 2 to satisfy their curiosity even when it is clear the answer will 3 .

In a series of four experiments, behavioral scientists at the University Of Chicago and the Wisconsin School of Business tested students’ willingness to 4 themselves to unpleasant stimuli in an effort to satisfy curiosity. For one 5 , each participant was shown a pile of pens that the researcher claimed were from a previous experiment. The twist? Half of the pens would 6 an electric shock when clicked.

Twenty-seven students were told which pens were electrified; another twenty-seven were told only that some were electrified. 7 left alone in the room, the students who did not know which ones would shock them clicked more pens and incurred more shocks than the students who knew what would 8 . Subsequent experiments reproduced this effect with other stimuli, 9 the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard and photographs of disgusting insects.

The drive to 10 is deeply rooted in humans, much the same as the basic drives for 11 or shelter, says Christopher Hsee of the University of Chicago. Curiosity is often considered a good instinct—it can 12 new scientific advances, for instance—but sometimes such 13 can backfire. The insight that curiosity can drive you to do 14 things is a profound one.

Unhealthy curiosity is possible to 15 , however. In a final experiment, participants who were encouraged to 16 how they would feel after viewing an unpleasant picture were less likely to 17 to see such an image. These results suggest that imagining the 18 of following through on one’s curiosity ahead of time can help determine 19 it is worth the endeavor. “Thinking about long-term 20 is key to reducing the possible negative effects of curiosity,” Hsee says. In other words, don’t read online comments.

Weighing yourself regularly is a wonderful way to stay aware of any significant weight fluctuations. 1 , when done too often, this habit can sometimes hurt more than it 2 .

As for me, weighing myself every day caused me to shift my focus from being generally healthy and physically active, to focusing 3 on the scale. That was bad to my overall fitness goals. I had gained weight in the form of muscle mass, but thinking only of 4 the number on the scale, I altered my training program. That conflicted with how I needed to train to 5 my goals.

I also found that weighing myself daily did not provide an accurate 6 of the hard work and progress I was making in the gym. It takes about three weeks to a month to notice significant changes in your weight 7 altering your training program. The most 8 changes will be observed in skill level, strength and inches lost.

For these 9 , I stopped weighing myself every day and switched to a bimonthly weighing schedule 10 . Since weight loss is not my goal, it is less important for me to 11 my weight each week. Weighing every other week allows me to observe and 12 any significant weight changes. That tells me whether I need to 13 my training program.

I use my bimonthly weigh-in 14 to get information about my nutrition as well. If my training intensity remains the same, but I’m constantly 15 and dropping weight, this is a 16 that I need to increase my daily caloric intake.

The 17 to stop weighing myself every day has done wonders for my overall health, fitness and well-being. I’m experiencing increased zeal for working out since I no longer carry the burden of a 18 morning weigh-in. I’ve also experienced greater success in achieving my specific fitness goals, 19 I’m training according to those goals, not the numbers on a scale.

Rather than 20 over the scale, turn your focus to how you look, feel, how your clothes fit and your overall energy level.

It’s not difficult to set targets for staff. It is much harder, 1 , to understand their negative consequences. Most work-related behaviors have multiple components. 2 one and the others become distorted.

Travel on a London bus and you’ll 3 see how this works with drivers. Watch people get on and show their tickets. Are they carefully inspected? Never. Do people get on without paying? Of course! Are there inspectors to 4 that people have paid? Possibly, but very few. And people who run for the bus? They are 5 . How about jumping lights? Buses do so almost as frequently as cyclists.

Why? Because the target is 6 . People complained that buses were late and infrequent. 7 , the number of buses and bus lanes were increased, and drivers were 8 or punished according to the time they took. And drivers hit these targets. But they 9 hit cyclists. If the target was changed to 10 , you would have more inspectors and more sensitive pricing. If the criterion changed to safety, you would get more 11 drivers who obeyed traffic laws. But both these criteria would be at the expense of time.

There is another 12 : people became immensely inventive in hitting targets. Have you 13 that you can leave on a flight an hour late but still arrive on time? Tailwinds? Of course not! Airlines have simply changed the time a 14 is meant to take. A one-hour flight is now billed as a two-hour flight.

The 15 of the story is simple. Most jobs are multidimensional, with multiple criteria. Choose one criterion and you may well 16 others. Everything can be done faster and made cheaper, but there is a 17 . Setting targets can and does have unforeseen negative consequences.

This is not an argument against target-setting. But it is an argument for exploring consequences first. All good targets should have multiple criteria 18 critical factors such as time, money, quality and customer feedback. The trick is not only to 19 just one or even two dimensions of the objective, but also to understand how to help people better 20 the objective.