Product assortment and individual decision processes

Research presented in this article examines the impact of product assortment on individuals' decisions. Four experiments report converging evidence that the impact of assortment is moderated by the degree to which individuals have articulated attribute preferences, whereby individuals with an articulated ideal point are more likely to prefer larger assortments than individuals without articulated preferences. The data further show that choices made from large assortments are associated with more selective, alternative-based, and confirmatory processing for individuals with articulated preferences and more comprehensive, attribute-based, and comparative processing for those without articulated preferences.     

Groups, group members and individual decision processes: the effects of decision strategy, social interaction style and reception of decision-threatening information on post-decision processes

In two experiments, one conducted at an individual level and one at a group level, it was investigated how decision strategies and the reception of decision-threatening information affect the degree of post-decision consolidation for both individual and group decision-makers. In Experiment 1, roughly half the 55 participants made decisions in three-person groups and the other half individually. The type of decision strategies subjects employed (compensatory, non-compensatory, other) was assessed by questionnaire. In two post-decision sessions, consolidation was assessed using a memory task, either decision-supporting or decision-threatening information being provided at the start of the last post-decision session. In Experiment 2, the same design and procedure were used at a group level. In both experiments, the groups (and the single group members) were analyzed with the SYMLOG instrument. The results indicated that individual decision-makers consolidated their own decisions more than members of decision-making groups. There was also greater post-decision consolidation with the use of non-compensatory decision strategies as well as with reception of decision-threatening information, this latter result being seen as providing an explanation for the greater consolidation that individual decision-makers showed. Furthermore, single task-oriented group members and groups with a task-oriented leader consolidated the decision made by their group.     

Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes

The present article presents and reviews the model of psychopathology and treatment underlying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT is unusual in that it is linked to a comprehensive active basic research program on the nature of human language and cognition (Relational Frame Theory), echoing back to an earlier era of behavior therapy in which clinical treatments were consciously based on basic behavioral principles. The evidence from correlational, component, process of change, and outcome comparisons relevant to the model are broadly supportive, but the literature is not mature and many questions have not yet been examined. What evidence is available suggests that ACT works through different processes than active treatment comparisons, including traditional Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT). There are not enough well-controlled studies to conclude that ACT is generally more effective than other active treatments across the range of problems examined, but so far the data are promising.     

Component processes of phased decision strategies

It is often assumed that decision makers apply mixtures of strategies including heuristic processes in complex choice tasks. In support of this assumption the component processes involved in phased strategies were investigated. Expectations for an experimental investigation were generated by simulations within the effort-quality framework. Effort-quality trade-off functions for tasks of different complexity favor compensatory dimension-based strategies for binary choice. For multialternative choice, a combination of initial dimension-based elimination procedures followed by alternative-based final processing would be expected. These expectations were tested in two experiments. While choosing between two, four, or eight alternatives, subjects could successively retrieve parts of the available information. Depending on their menu selection, either all features of one alternative were displayed together (alternative-based retrieval), or all features on one dimension were displayed together (dimension-based retrieval). Vincent averaging was used to analyze the retrieval sequences with respect to their stationarity. While the stationary sequences for binary choice are compatible with single processing strategies, non-stationarity of the sequences obtained for multialternative choice indicates the use of phased strategies. In particular, non-stationarity due to decreasing dimension-based retrievals over time suggests that subjects first applied dimensional elimination and later derived their choices by more thorough, alternative-based processing of the remaining alternatives.     

Nonrational processes in ethical decision making

Most current ethical decision-making models provide a logical and reasoned process for making ethical judgments, but these models are empirically unproven and rely upon assumptions of rational, conscious, and quasilegal reasoning. Such models predominate despite the fact that many nonrational factors influence ethical thought and behavior, including context, perceptions, relationships, emotions, and heuristics. For example, a large body of behavioral research has demonstrated the importance of automatic intuitive and affective processes in decision making and judgment. These processes profoundly affect human behavior and lead to systematic biases and departures from normative theories of rationality. Their influence represents an important but largely unrecognized component of ethical decision making. We selectively review this work; provide various illustrations; and make recommendations for scientists, trainers, and practitioners to aid them in integrating the understanding of nonrational processes with ethical decision making.     

Recognition and source memory as multivariate decision processes

Recognition memory, source memory, and exclusion performance are three important domains of study in memory, each with its own findings, its specific theoretical developments, and its separate research literature. It is proposed here that results from all three domains can be treated with a single analytic model. This article shows how to generate a comprehensive memory representation based on multidimensional signal detection theory and how to make predictions for each of these paradigms using decision axes drawn through the space. The detection model is simpler than the comparable multinomial model, it is more easily generalizable, and it does not make threshold assumptions. An experiment using the same memory set for all three tasks demonstrates the analysis and tests the model. The results show that some seemingly complex relations between the paradigms derive from an underlying simplicity of structure.     

An outcomes model of medical decision making

In the traditional fix-it model of medical decision making, the identified problem is typically characterized by a diagnosis that indicates a deviation from normalcy. When a medical problem is multifaceted and the available interventions are only partially effective, a broader vision of the health care endeavor is needed. What matters to the patient, and what should matter to the practitioner, is the patient's future possibilities. More specifically, what is important is the character of the alternative futures that the patient could have and choosing among them so as to achieve the best future possible, with the ranking of outcomes determined by the patient's preferences. This paper describes the fix-it model, presents and defends the outcomes-based model, and demonstrates that the latter is useful in developing normative conceptions of informed consent and decision making and in establishing a basis for societal involvement in the decision making process. Finally, several shortcomings of the model will be acknowledged.     

The role of decision processes in remembering and knowing

Participants in recognition memory studies are now often asked to partition recognized items into ones that are accompanied by some recollective experience (those they remember) and ones that are not so accompanied (but which they know were previously encountered). Rather than detecting separate memory systems, such attempts to distinguish between remembering and knowing are better understood as a division of positive recognition responses into those that lie above a second decision criterion (remember) and those that do not (know). As such, the amount of memory associated with knowing is strongly dependent on the placement of the decision criteria. A meta-analysis of published data and a simple experiment tested predictions from the decision process analysis of remember/know responses.     

Memory and frequency estimation processes in a decision task

Two experiments examined the role of information storage and frequency estimation processes in a simple decision task. On each trial from one to five simultaneous sequences of information were presented, and subjects were required to monitor and respond to each sequence. In one study independent groups of subjects gave decisions, recognition responses. or frequency judgments. In a second study recall responses were obtained from subjects as part of the decision and frequency judgment tasks. Changes in performance as the number of simultaneous sequences increased suggested an independence of decisions from memory for specific information. Performance on the decision and frequency judgment tasks exceeded at times that which was possible on the basis of specific information available. Other data suggested that subjects in the frequency estimation tasks maintained an accurate frequency count when possible, but in the decision task kept little more than a record of their currently favored hypothesis. When direct counting was prevented in the second experiment. performance in the two tasks was not significantly different, suggesting that the two processes are very similar under such conditions.     

Integrating turnover reasons and shocks with turnover decision processes

We interviewed and classified 186 quitters from many jobs and organizations via a theoretically-based protocol into five decision process types. We then tested exploratory hypotheses comparing users of these types on their propensity to report certain turnover reasons and turnover shocks. “Impulsive-type quitters,” with neither a job offer in hand nor turnover plan when they quit, reported poor management, work stress, and family demands as frequent turnover reasons, with manager conflicts and family events as frequent shocks. “Comparison quitters,” who had a job offer in hand and no plan, reported pay and advancement opportunities as top reasons with information about an alternative job being the most frequent shock. “Preplanned quitters,” who had a definite plan to quit well in advance, reported relocation and life/career changes as frequent reasons, with increasing family demand, relocation, and school starting as frequent shocks. “Satisficing quitters,” who made a plan conditional on getting an acceptable job offer, reported pay, poor management, work responsibilities, and work schedules as frequent reasons. Implications of these and other findings are discussed.     

Attributions of responsibility and affective reactions to decision outcomes

Immediate affective reactions to outcomes are more intense following decisions to act than following decisions not to act. This finding holds for both positive and negative outcomes. We relate this "actor-effect" to attribution theory and argue that decision makers are seen as more responsible for outcomes when these are the result of a decision to act as compared to a decision not to act. Experiment 1 (N = 80) tests the main assumption underlying our reasoning and shows that affective reactions to decision outcomes are indeed more intense when the decision maker is seen as more responsible. Experiment 2 (N = 40) tests whether the actor effect can be predicted on the basis of differential attributions following action and inaction. Participants read vignettes in which active and passive actors obtained a positive or negative outcome. Action resulted in more intense affect than inaction, and positive outcomes resulted in more intense affect than negative outcomes. Experiment 2 further shows that responsibility attributions and affective reactions to outcomes are highly correlated; that is, more extreme affective reactions are associated with more internal attributions. We discuss the implications for research on post-decisional reactions.     

A tutorial on partially observable Markov decision processes

The partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) model of environments was first explored in the engineering and operations research communities 40 years ago. More recently, the model has been embraced by researchers in artificial intelligence and machine learning, leading to a flurry of solution algorithms that can identify optimal or near-optimal behavior in many environments represented as POMDPs. The purpose of this article is to introduce the POMDP model to behavioral scientists who may wish to apply the framework to the problem of understanding normative behavior in experimental settings. The article includes concrete examples using a publicly-available POMDP solution package.