T-ECHO: model of decision making to explain behaviour in experiments and simulations under time pressure

Objectives: To explain the mechanisms of decision making in sports. The ‘Decision Field Theory’ by Townsend and Busemeyer ((1995). Dynamic representation of decision-making. In R. F. Port & T. von Gelder (Eds.), Mind as motion (p. 101). Cambridge: MIT Press) was applied to a ball game situation.Design/Method: A situation in basketball was simulated and used in two experiments. The simulation was realized using a local neural network (Behav. Brain Sci., 12 (1989) 435) and was based on a decision model T-ECHO (Tactical decision — Explanatory Coherence by Harmonic Optimization). Experiment 1 (n=53) tested decisions in a video-based laboratory decision task. Learning took place by watching video clips and was significantly better for implicit and explicit groups than for a control group. Experiment 2 (n=34) replicated the results by using incidental and intentional learning groups. Finally, comparisons between behaviour output of neural networks and participants' decision making were made.Results: A good fit between simulation and participant behaviour was shown. Time pressure explained preference reversals from a dynamic viewpoint.Conclusions: The use of simulations and decision experiments lead to a fruitful way to understand the mechanisms of decision making in ball games.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Wilson, D.G. & Rosenfeld, R. (1990). Managing organizations: text, readings and cases. London: McGraw Hill Book Company. Pp. 494. ISBN 0-07-707232-4. £16.95 (paperback).

Argyle, M. (1991). Cooperation: The basis of sociability. London: Routledge. Pp. 234. ISBN 0-41503-546-5. £10.99 (paperback).

Rasmussen, J., Brehmer, B., & LePlat, J. (Eds.). (1991). Distributed decision making: Cognitive models for cooperative work. Chichester: Wiley & Sons. Pp. 416. ISBN 0-471-92828-3. £49.95.     

Motivated information processing and group decision-making: Effects of process accountability on information processing and decision quality

Integrating dual-process models [Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y. (Eds.). (1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. NewYork: Guilford Press] with work on information sharing and group decision-making [Stasser, G., & Titus, W. (1985). Pooling of unshared information in group decision making: biased information sampling during discussion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1467-1478.], we predicted that groups with high epistemic motivation engage in more information-driven and less preference-driven interaction, and achieve better decisions. An experiment manipulating process accountability showed that groups under process accountability experienced greater need for more information, repeated unshared information more often, and more often chose the correct decision alternative. Mediation analysis established that epistemic motivation produced high quality decisions because it stimulated systematic information processing. Results also revealed that preference heterogeneity stimulated information-driven interaction and led to higher decision quality.     

Book Reviews Section

Book reviewed in this article:
WISKOFF, MARTIN F. and RAMPTON, GLENN M. (Eds.). Military Personnel Measurement: Testing, Assignment, Evaluation.
ARTHUR, MICHAEL B., HALL, DOUGLAS T. and LAWRENCE, BARBARAS. (Eds.). Handbook of Career Theory.
LUTHANS, FRED. Organizational Behavior (5th ed.).
KOTTER, JOHN P. A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management.
KOSSEK, ELLEN ERNST. The Acceptance of Human Resource Innovation: Lessons for Management.
NALBANTIAN, HAIG R. (Ed.). Incentives, Cooperation, and Risk Sharing: Economic and Psychological Perspectives on Employment Contracts.
McBEATH, GORDON and RANDS, NICK. Salary Administration (4th ed. by Gordon McBeath).
NEWSTROM, JOHN W. and DAVIS, KEITH. (Eds.) Organizational Behavior: Readings and Exercises (8th ed.).
LOWMAN, RODNEY L. Pre-Employment Screening for Psychopathology: A Guide to Professional Practice.
SETHI, AMARJIT S. and SCHULER, RANDALL S. (Eds.). Human Resource Management in the Health Care Sector: A Guide for Administrators and Professionals.
LOZANO, BEVERLY. The Invisible Work Force: Transforming American Business with Outside and Home-Based Workers.
MAKIN, PETER J., COOPER, CARY L. and COX, CHARLES J. Managing People at Work.
MINTZBERG, HENRY. Mintzberg on Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations.
CROSBY, PHILIP B. Leading: The Art of Becoming an Executive.
REDDIN, BILL. The Output-Oriented Manager, Aldershot, Hants
ROSENZWEIG, MARK R. and PORTER, LYMAN W. (Eds.). Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 41, 1990.     

Moving beyond categorization to understand affective influences on real world health decisions

This paper provides an overview of affect and health decision‐making research, with a focus on identifying gaps, opportunities, and challenges to guide future research. We begin by defining common categorical distinctions of affective processes that influence health decisions: integral (i.e., related to the decision) and incidental (i.e., normatively unrelated to the decision) influences, and current (experienced in the moment) and anticipated (“cognitive representations” of future affect) affect. We then summarize key discoveries within the most common categories of affective influences on health decision making: current integral affect, current incidental affect, and anticipated integral affect. Finally, we highlight research gaps, challenges, and opportunities for future directions for research aimed at translating affective and decision science theory to improve our understanding of, and ability to intervene upon, health decision making.     

Book Reviews Section

Book reviews in this article:
H erzberg , F rederick , M ausner , B ernard , and S nyderman , B arbara B loch . The Motivation to Work .
B ass , B ernard M., and B erg , I rwin A. (Eds.) Objective APProaches to Personality Asessment .
A nderson , H arold H. (Ed.) Creativity and Its Cultivation .
S altonstall , R obert . Human Relations in Administration: Text and Cases .
J acobson , H oward B oone , and R oucek , J oseph S. (Eds.) Automation and Society .
T horndike , R obert L., and H agen , E lizabeth . Ten Thousand Careers .
D imock , M arshall E. Administrative Vitality: The Conflict with Bureaucracy .
B ittel , L ester R. What Every Supervisor Should Know .
W eber , C. A., and K arnes , J ohn W., J r . Industrial Leadership: The American Way to Teamwork .
D avis , K eith , and S cott , W illiam G. Readings in Human Relations .
S togdill , R alph M. Individual Behavior and Group Achievement .
B each , L eslie R., and C lark , E lon L. Psychology in Business .
R oberts , D avid R. Executive Compensation .
Briefly Mentioned N iles , H enry E., N iles , M ary C ushing , and S tephens , J ames C. The Office Supervisor: His Relations to Persons and to Work .
Book and Materials Received     

The Job Demands and Resources Decision Making (JD-R-DM) Model

This study explores the effects of nurses’ daily job characteristics (i.e., job demands and resources) and general work engagement on their daily decision making (i.e., analytical and intuitive) and consequently their daily performance (i.e., task and contextual). Participants completed a baseline questionnaire and a diary for five consecutive days. Results reveal a positive influence of the job demands “work pressure” and “predictability” on analytical decision making. In turn, analytical decision making promotes task performance. Work pressure also negatively influences intuitive decision making which, in turn, stimulates task and contextual performance. However, the job resource (i.e., autonomy) had a nonsignificant relationship with decision making. General work engagement had positive effects on analytical decision making and moderated the relationship between intuitive decision making and contextual performance. For those high on work engagement, the relation was stronger compared to their counterparts low on work engagement. Results corroborate that expanding and testing decision-making theories can increase understanding on how the work environment and engagement influence employee decision making and performance.     

Book review

Becker, J.B., Breedlove, S.M., & Crews, D. (Eds.) (1991). Behavioral endocrinology. Cambridge, MA & London: MIT Press. Pp. xxvi + 574. ISBN 0-262-02342-3. £31.50 (Pbk).     

Book Review Section

Book review in this Article:
MITROFF, IAN I., MASON, RICHARD O., and PEARSON, CHRISTINE M. Framebreak The Radical Redesign of American Business.
MINER, JOHN B. Role Motivation Theories.
STOKES, GARNETT S., MUMFORD, MICHAEL D., and OWENS, WILLIAM A. (Eds.). Biodata Handbook:
DUNNETTE, MARVIN D. and HOUGH, LEATTA M. (Eds.). Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Vol. 2 (2nd ed.).
MUCHINSKY, PAUL M. Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (4th ed.).
BEREMAN, NANCY A. and LENGNICK-HALL, MARK L. Compensation Decision Making:
BARRETT, DERM. Fast Focus on TQM: A Concise Guide to Company-wide Learning.
POWELL, GARY N. Women and Men in Management (2nd ed.).
BAILYN, LOTTE. Breaking the Mold: Women, Men, and Time in the New Corporate World.
HERMAN, STANLEY M. A Force of Ones: Reclaiming Individual Power in a Time of Teams, Work Groups, and Other Crowds.
HENEMAN, HERBERT G., III and HENEMAN, ROBERT L. Staffing Organizations.
PRUNT, DEAN G. and CARNEVALE, PETER J. Negotiation in Social Conflict.
NORTHEY, PATRICIA and SOUTHWAY, NIGEL. Cycle Time Management: The Fast Track to Time-Based Productivity Improvement.
SNYDER, NEIL H., DOWD, JAMES J., JR., and HOUGHTON, DIANNE MORSE. Visions, Values and Courage: Leadership for Quality Management.
KLOSE, ALLEN J. Breaking the Chains: The Empowerment of Employees: How to Evaluate, Monitor and Improve Employee Empowerment Levels.
ROMEYN, JANE. Flexible Working Time: Part-Time and Casual Employment.
PORTER, LYMAN W. and ROSENZWEIG, MARK R. (Eds.).     

Recent books

Abstract

Niedenthal, P.M., & Kitayama, S. (Eds.). (1994). The heart's eye: Emotional influences in perception and attention. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. ISBN 0–12–410560–2. 289pp. $55.00

MacKinnon, N.J. (1994). Symbolic interactionism as affect control. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0–7914–2042–6 (pbk). 245pp. $19.95.

Cuthbertson-Johnson, B., Franks, D.D., & Doman, M. (Eds.) (1994). The sociology of emotions: An annotated bibliography. New York Garland Publishing. ISBN 0–8240–2321–8. 222pp. $37.00

Flanagan, O., & Rorty, A.O. (Eds.) (1990). Identity_; character and morality: Essays in moral psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0–262–56074–7 (pbk). 487pp. $18.50.

Mackie, D.M., 8 Hamilton D.L. (Eds.) (1993). Affect, cognition, and stereotyping: interactive processes in group perception. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. ISBN 0–12–46441–0–4. 389pp. $59.95

Dobson, K.S., & Kendall, P.C. (Eds.) (1993). Psychopethology and cognition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. ISBN 0–12–404175–2. 492pp. $49.95.

Graham, G., & Stephens, G.L. (Eds.) (1994). Philosophical psychopathology. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN 0–262–07159–2. 332pp. $34.95.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Fletcher, Joyce K. Disappearing Acts
Grossman, Frances K., Cook, Alexandra B., Kepkep, Selin S. and Koenen, Karestan C.. With the Phoenix Rising: Lessons From Ten Resilient Women Who Overcame the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Winkler, Barbara Scott and DiPalma, Carolyn Teaching Introduction to Women's Studies: Expectations and Strategies
Chodrow, Nancy J. The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender, and Culture
Crowley, M. Sue The Search for Autonomous Intimacy: Sexual Abuse and Young Women's Identity Development
Brown Travis, Cheryl and White, Jacquelyn W. Sexuality, Society, and Feminism
Davis, Sara N., Crawford, Mary and Sebrechts, Jadwiga (Eds.) Coming Into Her Own: Educational Success in Girls and Women (Eds.)
Kilmartin, Christopher The Masculine Self
Thompson, J. K., Heinberg, L. J., Altabe, M. and Tantleff-Dunn, S. Exacting Beauty: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance
Grogan, Sarah Body Image: Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women, and Children     

Altering information to gain action control: Functional aspects of human information processing in decision making

In recent approaches to social judgment, information distortion has been discussed primarily as a violation of individual rationality, due to unintentionally occurring biases. In contrast to this view, it is argued that frequently individuals make purposive use of selective changes in information processing in order to avoid indecisiveness. In this sense, selective changes in information processing may be considered a functional requirement of a volitional process which protects the current intention (or tentative decision) from being replaced by competing behavioral tendencies. On the basis of J. Kuhl's theory of action control (1981, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 155–170; 1982, in W. Hacker, W. Volpert, & M. von Cranach, Eds., Cognitive and Motivational Aspects of Action, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1984, in B. A. Maher, Progress in Experimental Personality Research, Vol. 13, New York: Academic Press) it was predicted that subjects having a high score on the action-control scale (i.e., action-oriented subjects) should show a stronger tendency to increase the attractiveness rating of a tentatively preferred decision during the process of decision making than subjects scoring low on that scale (i.e., state-oriented subjects). To test this assumption, students searching for an apartment were offered 16 apartments along with a list containing information about the alternatives. The subjects had to rate the attractiveness of each apartment twice before they were asked to indicate which apartments they would like to rent. The results confirmed the predictions. It was found that action-oriented subjects increased the divergence of their attractiveness ratings from the first to the second point of evaluation, whereas state-oriented subjects did not.     

Book reviews and books received

MEICHENBAUM, D., 1997 Treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disordar: a Handbook and Practice Manual for Therapy Chichestex Wiley ISBN 0-471-97241-X £29.95

SALKOVSKIS, P.M. (Ed.), 1996 Frontiers of Cognitive Therapy New York Guilford £32.50 (hbk); L17.50 (bk) ISBN 1-57230-1 12-0 (hbk); 1-57230-172-4 (bk)

James I. & Palmer, S. (Eds), 1996, Professional Theropeutic Titles: Myths and Realities

Pope-Davis, D.B. & Coleman, H.L.K. (Eds) (1997), Multicultural Counselling Competencics: Assessment, Education and Training, and Supervision

Wilkins, P. (1997) Persod and Professional Development for Counsellors London: Sage £10.95 ISBN 0-8039-74463-9

Ellis, A., Gordon, J., Neenan, M. & Palmer, S., 1997, Streets Counselling: Rational Emotive Behaviour Approach

GILBERT, M. & Shmukler, D., 1996 Brief Therapy with Couples: an Integrative Approach Chichater: Wiley £12.99 ISBN 047 1-96206-6     

Methodological individualism in experimental games: not so easily dismissed

Orthodox game theory and social preference models cannot explain why people cooperate in many experimental games or how they manage to coordinate their choices. The theory of evidential decision making provides a solution, based on the idea that people tend to project their own choices onto others, whatever these choices might be. Evidential decision making preserves methodological individualism, and it works without recourse to social preferences. Rejecting methodological individualism, team reasoning is a thinly disguised resurgence of the group mind fallacy, and the experiments reported by Colman et al. [Colman, A. M., Pulford, B. D., & Rose, J. (this issue). Collective rationality in interactive decisions: Evidence for team reasoning. Acta Psychologica, doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.08.003.] do not offer evidence that uniquely supports team reasoning.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Review in This Article: FLAMHOLTZ, ERIC G. Growing Pains: How to Make the Transition from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm (Rev. ed.). HUNT, JAMES G. Leadership: A New Synthesis. ADAIR-HEELEY, CHARLENE B. The Human Side of Just-Zn-Time: How to Make the Techniques Really Work. DUNNETTE, MARVIN D. and HOUGH, LEAETTA M. (Eds.). FOULKES, FRED K. (Ed.). Executive Compensation: A Strategic Guide for the 1990s. BRAY, DOUGLAS W. and Associates. Working with Organizations and Their People: A Guide to Human Resources Practice. SCHNEIDER, BENJAMIN (Ed.). Organizational Climate and Culture. WILLINGHAM, WARREN W., LEWIS, CHARLES, MORGAN, RICK, and RAMIST, LEONARD. Predicting College Grades: An Analysis of Institutional Trends Over two Decades. RYAN, KATHLEEN D. and OESTREICH, DANIEL K. Driving Fear Out of the Workplace: How to Overcome the Invisible Barriers to Quality, Productivity and Innovation. BERRY, THOMAS H. Managing the Total Quality Transformation. ARTHUR, DIANE. Recruiting, Interviewing, Selecting and Orienting New Employees (2nd ed.). ROCK, MILTON L. and BERGER, LANCE A. (Eds. in Chief). The Compensation Handbook A State-of-the-Art Guide to Compensation Strategy and Design (3rd ed.). COOPER, CARY L. and ROBERTSON, IVAN T (Eds.). International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1991: Vol. 6. MERCER, MICHAEL W. Turning Your Human Resources Department into a Profit Center. SCHERMERHORN, JOHN R., HUNT, JAMES G., and OSBORN, RICHARD N. Managing Organizational Behavior (4th ed.). WILLIS, SHERRY L. and DUBIN, SAMUEL S. (Eds.). Maintaining Professional Competence: Approaches to Career Enhancement, Vitality, and Success Throughout a Work Life. BRISLIN, RICHARD W. The Art of Getting Things Done: A Practical Guide to the Use of Power. FORRER, STEPHEN E. and LEIBOWITZ, ZANDY B. Using Computers in Human Resources: How to Select and Make the Best Use of Automated HR Systems. BRIEF, ARTHUR P. and NORD, WALTER R. (Eds.). Meanings of Occupational Work A Collection of Essays. KILMANN, RALPH H., KILMANN, INES, and Associates. Making Organizations Competitive: Enhancing Networks and Relationships Across Traditional Boundaries.     

Different ways of looking at unpleasant truths: How construal levels influence information search

When not knowing the negative outcome of past decision, people search for more information even when it confirms their negative suspicion. What drives this information search is the hope that the unpleasant state of “not knowing” ends when one faces the truth [Shani, Y., Tykocinski, O. E., &; Zeelenberg, M. (2008). When ignorance is not bliss: How distressing uncertainty drives the search of negative information. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29, 643–653; Shani, Y., &; Zeelenberg, M. (2007). When and why do we want to know? How experienced regret promotes post-decision information search. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 20, 207–222]. Previous research suggests that adopting high- or low-level construals of a situation can increase or decrease the affective value of experiences [Metcalfe, J., &; Mischel, W. (1999). A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review, 106, 3–19, Mischel, W., Ayduk, O., &; Mendoza-Denton, R. (2003). Sustaining delay of gratification over time: A hot–cool systems perspective. In G. Loewenstein &; D. Read (Eds.), Time and decision: Economic and psychological perspectives on intertemporal choice (pp. 175–200). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation; Trope, Y., Gervey, B., &; Bolger, N. (2003). The role of perceived control in overcoming defensive self-evaluation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 407–419]. We propose that the need to know the potentially hurtful truths about one’s own decision increases when people adopt a low-level construal, but it decreases when people adopt a high-level construal. In five experiments, we manipulated construal levels and assessed the effects on information search and the underlying psychological process.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

Johnson, J.V., & Hohansson, G. (Eds.)- (1991). The psychosocial work environment: Work organization, democratization and health. Essays in memory of Bertil Gar dell. New York: Baywood. pp. 335. ISBN 0-89503-078-0 (hardback). ISBN 0-89503-077-2 (paperback).

Shackel, B., & Richardson, S. (Eds.) (1991). Human factors of informatics usability. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 438. ISBN 0-521-36570-8. Hardback £35.00

Frese, M., & Brodbeck, F.C. (1989). Computer in Büro und Verwaltung. Berlin: Springer. Pp. 237. ISBN: 3-540-50774-4. DM 88. Published in German.     

Book Reviews

Book reviews in this article: Maslow , Abraham H. Eupsychian Management: A Journal. Applewhite , Philip B. Organizational Behavior. Ling , Cyril C. The Management of Personnel Relations : History and Origins. Meister , David , and Rabideau , Gerald F. Human Factors Evaluation in Systems Development. Tiffin , Joseph , and Mc Cormick , Ernest J. Industrial Psychology Adams , Loyce . Managerial Psychology: Human Behavior in Business and Industry. Odiorne , George S. Management by Objectives: A System of Managerial Leadership. Stagner , Ross , and Rosen , Hjalmar . Psychology of Union-Management Relations. Anderson , Richard C. Management Strategies. King , David . Training within the Organization: A Study of Company Policy and Procedures for the Systematic Training of Operators and Supervisors. Dankert , Clyde E., Mann , Floyd C., and Noethrup , Herbert R. (Eds.) Hours of Work. Managerial Compensation. Farnsworth , P. R., Mc Nemar , O., and Mc Nemar , Q. (Eds.) Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 17, 1966. Farnsworth , P. R., Mc Nemar , O., and Mc Nemar , Q. (Eds.) Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 17, 1966. American Management Association . Making the Most of Training Opportunities. Bennis , Warren G. Changing Organizations: Essays on the Development and Evolution of Human Organization. Bishop , George H., et al . The Excitement and Fascination of Science: A Collection of Auto biographical and Philosophical Essays. Brennan , Michael J. Preface to Econometrics: An Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Economics. Calhoon , Richard P. Cases in Personnel Management and Supervision. Careers Guidance in Schools. Carpenter , Edmund , and Mc Luhan , Marshall . (Eds.) Explorations in Communication: An Anthology. Gellerman , Saul W. The Management of Human Relations. Gilbert , Doris Wilcox . Study in Depth. Gotterer , Malcolm H. (Editor) Proceedings of the Third Annual Computer Personnel Research Conference, June 17–18, 1965. Randle , C. Wilson , and Wortman , Max S., Jr . Collective Bargaining: Principles and Practices. Research Conference on The Use of Autobiographical Data as Psychological Predictors. Roucek , Joseph S. (Editor) Programmed Teaching: A Symposium on Automation in Teaching. Sarnoff , Irving . Society with Tears. Smith , B. Babington . Laboratory Experience in Psychology. Stone , Alan A., and Stone , Sue Smart . (Eds.) The Abnormal Personality Through Literature. Walsh , Francis J., Jr . Administration of Cost Reduction Programs.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Bohan, Janis S., Feminist Reconstructions in Psychology: Narrative, Gender, and Performance
Tolman, Deborah L. and Brydon-Miller, Mary (Eds.), From Subjects to Subjectivities: A Handbook of Interpretive and Participatory Methods
Lau Chin, Jean (Ed.), Relationships Among Asian American Women
Bevacqua, Maria, Rape on the Public Agenda: Feminism and the Politics of Sexual Assault
Janis S. Bohan, Feminist Reconstructions in Psychology: Narrative, Gender, and Performance
McMahon, Anthony, Taking Care of Men: Sexual Politics in the Public Mind
Wirth-Cauchon, Janet, Women and Borderline Personality Disorder: Symptoms and Stories
Chrisler, Joan C., Golden, Carla, and Rozee, Patricia (Eds.), Lectures on the Psychology of Women
Castle, David J., McGrath, John and Kulkarni, Jayashri (Eds.), Women and Schizophrenia
Crawford, Mary and Unger, Rhoda, In Our Own Words: Writings from Women's Lives (2nd Ed.)