Failing to commit: Maximizers avoid commitment in a way that contributes to reduced satisfaction

Past research suggests that individuals who approach decisions with the goal of maximizing, or selecting the best possible option, show less satisfaction with their choices than those with the goal of satisficing, or selecting the first “good enough” option. The present investigation examines whether this difference in choice satisfaction stems from a difference in willingness to commit to one’s choices. We argue that maximizers are reticent to commit to their choices and that this reticence robs them of the dissonance reduction processes that leave people satisfied. In Study 1, maximizers reported a stronger preference than satisficers for retaining the possibility to revise choices, both when reporting preferences in their own life and when choosing between options in a hypothetical situation. In Study 2, satisficers showed evidence of classic dissonance reduction after making a choice - they offered higher ratings of a chosen poster and lower ratings of the rejected alternatives, relative to baseline. However, maximizers were less likely to change their impressions of the posters after their choice, leaving them less satisfied with their selected poster. These results provide valuable insight into post-decision processes that decrease maximizers’ satisfaction with their decisions.     

How Satisficers Get Away with Murder

Traditional Consequentialism is based on a demanding principle of impartial maximization. Michael Slote's 'Satisficing Consequentialism' aims to reduce the demands of Consequentialism, by no longer requiring us to bring about the best possible outcome. This paper presents a new objection to Satisficing Consequentialism. We begin with a simple thought experiment, in which an agent must choose whether to save the lives of ten innocent people by using a sand bag or by killing an innocent person. The main aim of the paper is to demonstrate that, if it is to avoid making unreasonable demands, Satisficing Consequentialism must allow such an agent to kill. It is argued that this result is much more counter-intuitive than the fact that Maximizing Consequentialism permits agents to kill in order to produce the best consequences. The conclusion is that Satisficing Consequentialism is not an acceptable moral theory.     

Choosing words at the study phase: The self‐choice effect on memory from the viewpoint of connective processing1

Abstract: The self‐choice effect, that is the superior memory performance observed when participants are allowed to choose the item at the study phase than when they are not (lack of choice), has been explained by the encoding‐strategy hypothesis ( Takahashi, 1997 ). This hypothesis distinguishes between organizational processing, which focuses upon the relationship between chosen items, and item‐speci?c processing, which itself focuses on the elements that make the chosen item distinctive. The encoding‐strategy hypothesis predicts that the ability for the successive recall of chosen items can be affected by organized list (Experiment 1). The results of our experiments ran counter to the prediction and were interpreted by a new concept called connective processing, which would emphasize the relationship of paired items. Connective processing was examined through orienting tasks (Experiment 2). The results were more suitably interpreted by connective than organizational processing.     

Does the distance between us matter? Influences of physical proximity to others on consumer choice

Individuals’ physical closeness to one another can either increase or decrease their preference for distinctive products. When individuals perceive their proximity to others to be voluntary, they are likely to interpret it as an indication of their affiliation motivation. Consequently, in a product choice task, they choose options that others consider desirable. When people perceive that their close proximity to others results from circumstances beyond their control, however, they feel that their personal space is violated and experience a need for to express their individuality. In this case, they are more likely to choose products that distinguish themselves from others.     

Economic optimization by compromise programming: The joint production model

In a basic microeconomic model (joint production and consumer's utility curves) three key optima appear: the best technological mix, the maximum profit point and the consumer's utility optimum. Compromise analysis can help to clarify their connections. This paper and other recent research attempt to specify the conditions which guarantee that these three optima coincide. Thus compromise programming becomes a valuable surrogate of economic optimization.     

Consumer Rights to Informed Choice on the Food Market

The discourse about traceability in food chains focused on traceability as means towards the end of managing health risks. This discourse witnessed a call to broaden traceability to accommodate consumer concerns about foods that are not related to health. This call envisions the development of ethical traceability. This paper presents a justification of ethical traceability. The argument is couched in liberal distinctions, since the call for ethical traceability is based on intuitions about consumer rights to informed choice. The paper suggests that two versions of ethical traceability find justification. The first version of ethical traceability entails that governments ensure that all consumers are provided with foods that respect some threshold level of, e.g., animal welfare that is supported by an overlapping consensus. The second version of ethical traceability entails that food producers provide consumers with products, and sufficient information about these products, that are relevant for reasonable, non-superficial values that are not supported by an overlapping consensus. Governments should facilitate this in the sense that consumers are not provided with misinformation about characteristics of foods that are relevant for reasonable, non-superficial values that are not supported by an overlapping consensus.

Multi-attribute sequential search

This article describes empirical and theoretical results from two multi-attribute sequential search tasks. In both tasks, the DM sequentially encounters options described by two attributes and must pay to learn the values of the attributes. In the continuous version of the task the DM learns the precise numerical value of an attribute when she pays to view it. In the threshold version the DM learns only whether the value of an attribute is above or below a threshold that she sets herself. Results from the continuous condition reveal that DMs tended to terminate their searches too early relative to the optimal policy. The pattern reversed in the threshold condition: DMs searched for too long. Maximum likelihood comparisons of two different stochastic decision models showed that DMs under both information conditions performed in ways consistent with the optimal policies. Those offered continuous-valued attribute information did not, however, spontaneously degrade this information into binary (acceptable/unacceptable) form, despite the theoretical finding that satisficing can be a very effective and efficient search strategy.     

Instructional manipulation checks: Detecting satisficing to increase statistical power

Participants are not always as diligent in reading and following instructions as experimenters would like them to be. When participants fail to follow instructions, this increases noise and decreases the validity of their data. This paper presents and validates a new tool for detecting participants who are not following instructions - the Instructional manipulation check (IMC). We demonstrate how the inclusion of an IMC can increase statistical power and reliability of a dataset.     

An experimental analysis of satisficing in saving decisions

Uncertainty of one’s future is the essential problem of saving decisions. Unlike previous experimental studies, we capture this crucial uncertainty by a scenario-based satisficing approach. Decision makers first form aspirations for a few relevant scenarios, and then search for consumption plans guaranteeing these aspirations. Our aim is to investigate whether agents make satisficing choices and, if so, how satisficing relates to optimality. We find that satisficing allocations can be reached easily when aspirations are incentivized, although aspiration levels are rather far from what optimality suggests.     

The effects of statistical training on choice heuristics in choice under uncertainty

Kahneman and Tversky (1984) proposed that decision makers perceive choice uncertainty in two ways: (1) as a distribution of possible outcomes or (2) as a single uncertain outcome. Using statistical training as a factor that influences these perceptions, and thus the type of decision approach individuals use, we found that individuals with different levels of experience displayed differences in the decisions they made and in the choice heuristics used to make those decisions. Statistically naive individuals were more likely to prefer loss-minimizing alternatives, use a more non-compensatory heuristic, and spend more time on loss-related information than their statistically experienced counterparts. When a distributional cue, indicating the distributional nature of choice outcomes, was presented to both experience groups, the naive group was found to use a decision approach similar to the experienced group and to make similar decisions. The results are discussed in terms of the need to include factors that alter individuals' approaches to uncertainty in future behavioral models of uncertain choice.     

Car following from the driver’s perspective

In this commentary, it is argued that the car following models discussed in Brackstone, M., and McDonald, M. (Transportation Research – Part F (2000), pp. 181–196) ignore one or more of the following issues that characterize to observed driver behavior. These include: (i) car following is only one of many tasks that drivers perform simultaneously and receives therefore only intermittent attention and control (task scheduling/attention management), (ii) drivers are satisfied with a range of conditions that extend beyond the boundaries imposed by perceptual and control limitation (satisficing instead of optimal performance evaluation), and (iii) in each driving task drivers use a set of highly informative perceptual variables to guide decision making and control (perceptual rather than Newtonian input). To elucidate these issues, a general driver modeling framework is presented in which the car-following task is highlighted (Boer, E. R., & Hoedemaeker, M. (1998). In Proceedings of the XVIIth European Annual Conference on Human Decision making and Manual Control December 14–16. France: Valenciennes; Boer, E. R., Hildreth, E. C., & Goodrich, M. A. (1998). In Proceedings of the XVIIth European Annual Conference on Human Decision making and Manual Control December 14–16. France: Valenciennes).     

“I deserve a treat”: Exercise motivation as a predictor of post-exercise dietary licensing beliefs and implicit associations toward unhealthy snacks

ObjectiveTo explore whether exercise motivation predicted two of the potential mechanisms that may explain why individuals engage in unhealthy compensatory snack consumption following exercise; specifically (a) post-exercise conscious licensing beliefs, and (b) post-exercise implicit attitudes toward unhealthy snacks.DesignObservational study.MethodOne hundred and nineteen healthy participants completed a 40-min session of moderate intensity stationary cycling, and subsequently completed measures of explicit licensing and implicit associations toward unhealthy snack foods and drinks.ResultsIndividuals driven by more controlled (relative to autonomous) forms of exercise motivation reported greater compensatory licensing beliefs (Est = −0.08, p < 0.001) even after accounting for a number of relevant covariates. No significant relationship emerged between exercise motivation and implicit associations toward unhealthy snacks (Est = 0.12, p = 0.81).ConclusionThe findings demonstrate that exercise motivation may predict conscious licensing beliefs toward unhealthy snack foods and drinks post-exercise. Understanding the modifiable factors – such as exercise motivation – that predict post-exercise dietary beliefs is important for supporting individuals’ weight loss and health goals.     

Joint production model: A note on a connection between market prices and CP anchor values

This paper focuses on a justification of the assumption ‘In a joint production competitive industry, market prices are inversely proportional to anchor values’. This assumption is important to underpin the property ‘In a competitive industry the maximum profit mix and the best technological mix coincide’.     

风险决策和跨期决策的过程比较：以确定效应和即刻效应为例

风险决策和跨期决策与人类生存发展密切相关, 且两类决策在理论发展、行为效应及神经基础等方面具有相似性。为检验二者是否具有共同过程机制, 本研究以风险决策中的确定效应和跨期决策中的即刻效应为例, 采用眼动追踪技术比较了它们的局部、整体过程及模型拟合。辅以贝叶斯因子分析实验数据表明：二者的主要过程特征均相似, 且更符合非折扣模型假设; 二者在加工复杂程度等少数特征上有所不同; 确定和即刻信息在加工方向等特征上存在特异性。这表明二者可能具有共同的核心决策规则：两类决策更可能遵循非折扣模型预期的简捷、启发式规则, 而不是折扣模型所假设的补偿性、基于选项规则。本研究为建立两类决策的共同解释框架做出了有益尝试, 并为决策比较研究方法提供新的方向。