The Five Whys Method: A Tool for Developing Problem Definitions in Collaboration with Children

Participatory action research with young people (yPAR) involves youth and adults in a collaborative process of research, reflection, analysis and action. An important part of the research cycle is the identification of a problem definition. Yet, there is relatively little research addressing the process of how young people develop a problem definition on which to focus their analysis and intervention and what methods might exist to facilitate this process. This article draws upon a yPAR project with fifth‐grade working‐class young people, primarily young people of colour, to demonstrate how the Five Whys method for reflecting on lived experiences facilitated the development of problem definitions in line with second‐order change. The Five Whys method, when used within a participatory framework, offers both a context and a structure for young people to critically examine social problems they identify and to seek out root causes. The article highlights changes in the participant's formulation of problems in the context of using the Five Whys method, from a primarily individual level of analysis to a more structural level of analysis. It also outlines the subsequent changes in proposed actions to address the identified problems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

人工智能决策的公平感知

不平等问题是全球社会和经济发展需要应对的首要挑战,也是实现全球可持续发展目标的核心障碍。人工智能(artificial intelligence, AI)为缓解不平等、促进社会公平提供了新的途径。然而,新近研究发现,即使客观上AI决策具有公平性和准确性,个体仍可能对AI决策的公平感知较低。因此,近年来越来越多的研究开始关注AI决策公平感知的影响因素。然而,目前研究较为分散,呈现出研究范式不统一、理论不清晰和机制未厘清等特征。这既不利于跨学科的研究对话,也不利于研究者和实践者对AI决策公平感知形成系统性理解。基于此,通过系统的梳理,现有研究可以划分为两类:(1) AI单一决策的公平感知研究,主要聚焦于AI特征和个体特征如何影响个体对AI决策的公平感知;(2) AI-人类二元决策的公平感知研究,主要聚焦于对比个体对AI决策与人类决策公平感知的差异。在上述梳理基础上,未来研究可以进一步探索AI决策公平感知的情绪影响机制等方向。     

从博弈游戏看儿童经济决策行为的发展

国外有研究借助最后通谍（UG）和独裁者博弈（DG）探查了儿童的决策行为,他们发现,随着儿童年龄的增长,他们分配给对方的金额呈上升趋势,即公平和分享行为随年龄增加。儿童的经济决策行为和社会化不可避免要受文化影响。研究探查了中国文化下小学三、六年级、初二、大学一年级四个年龄组学生在最后通谍（UG）和独裁者博弈（DG）中的经济决策行为发展。研究同时比较了个体决策和群体决策的差异。结果发现：儿童在两个博弈中的提议金额都显示出公平和分享行为,随着儿童年龄的增长,儿童在UG和随后进行的DG中的提议分配金额呈减少趋势。这个发现与以往国外研究结果明显不同。两个博弈的顺序对UG没有影响,但对DG有影响;儿童的个体决策和群体决策结果没有显示显著差异     

Expanding the analysis of social orientations by reference to the sequential–temporal structure of situations

The purpose of this paper is to identify logically the types of choice points that people encounter in their interpersonal relationships. It is assumed that associated with each type of choice point is a special class of choice criterion or decision rule. Therefore, identifying the types of choice points provides a basis for distinguishing the various decision criteria that are required by interdependent life and that should be assessed in order to predict patterns of interpersonal interaction. This paper explains how these distinctions will serve to expand our thinking about social orientations. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of social injustice and inequality on children's moral judgments and behavior: Towards a theoretical model

Our goal in this paper is to examine the potential origins of children's understanding of morally relevant transgressions, with a particular focus on how children's perceptions of both proximal and distal unfairness might influence their social reasoning and behavior. A preliminary theoretical model is presented that addresses connections among aggressive children's social cognitive biases, their attachment histories, and their working models of societal justice and fairness. It is argued that difficulties in early parent–child interactions in combination with hostile larger social environments act to undermine emotional reciprocity, empathy, and concern for others in ways likely to promote proactive, uncaring forms of victimization and harm. Furthermore, it is proposed that given sufficiently toxic social experiences, some children will develop beliefs that life does not primarily revolve around caring or fairness, but around power and domination. Discussion focuses on the potential implications of these non-normative but coherent moral beliefs for theory and intervention.     

小学儿童奖赏公平性的认知发展

采用信息加工研究途径并假设故事情境探索小学儿童对奖赏公平性的社会认知发展,并将儿童的发展与成人作对比。研究结果表明,７,９岁儿童容易将＂均等＂与＂公平＂混淆,还没形成一个稳定的分配模式,而１２岁儿童已能运用＂努力＂、＂成果＂、＂能力＂等规则较为稳定地作出公平奖赏决定或评价,但还没达到对更高层次的社会准则的理解和掌握。儿童这一发展制约于他们的信息加工能力以及获得有关社会价值观的社会化过程。     

Bridging the gap between joint and individual decisions: Deconstructing preferences in relationships

Most choice research has studied how people make decisions within a narrowly defined choice context and has not paid sufficient attention to the role of social context. We commend Simpson, Griskevicius, and Rothman for directing the attention of choice researchers to the study of joint decision making and current theories on relationships. Building on SGR, we propose that a relationship partner's influence varies with the type of decision at hand and with situational factors. We propose four possible types of decision episodes, defined by whether the decision stage and the consumption stage each occur singly or jointly, and explore how the decision type impacts the extent to which a decision maker will take a partner's preferences into account. We further discuss how situational factors, such as the environment in which the decision is made, as well as the mindset and cognitive resources of the decision maker, are likely to influence decision outcomes.     

提议者的意图、相对收益与绝对收益对不同年龄回应者公平行为的影响

实验呈现了最后通牒博弈的3种分配情境：匿名者分配情境中, 匿名者提出方案, 且与被试分享资源, 故成熟的回应者需考虑意图、相对收益和绝对收益; 随机数生成器(RNG)分配情境中, 无关的匿名他人与被试分享资源, 故需考虑相对收益与绝对收益; 计算机分配情境中, 因计算机不能带走资源, 故只需考虑绝对收益。实验通过分析3种分配情境下回应者对同一分配方案的拒绝情况, 探讨意图、相对收益、绝对收益对公平行为的影响。结果发现：(1)年幼儿童(4~5岁)倾向于接受绝大多数分配方案; (2)年长儿童(9~11岁)在3种分配情境和多数分配方案上的拒绝率均高于其他组; (3)青少年(16~18岁)在方案2/8上的拒绝次数存在显著差异, 且匿名者分配情境显著多于RNG分配情境, 计算机分配情境显著多于零; 在3/7方案上的拒绝次数存在显著差异, 且计算机分配情境显著多于零; (4)成年人(21~24岁)在1/9和2/8方案上的拒绝次数存在显著差异, 且RNG分配情境显著多于计算机分配情境, 计算机分配情境显著多于零; 在 3/7方案上的拒绝次数具有显著差异, 且匿名者分配情境显著多于RNG分配情境, 计算机分配情境显著多于零。结果表明, (1)年幼儿童很难抵制绝对收益的吸引, 表现最为自利; (2)年长儿童更多考虑了相对收益, 能够抵制绝对收益的吸引, 并开始关注提议者的意图; (3)青少年处于关注提议者意图的重要时期, 主要基于意图与绝对收益进行决策; (4)成人的决策是意图、相对收益、绝对收益共同作用的结果。     

The development of the experience and anticipation of regret

Although recent studies have established that children experience regret from around 6 years, we do not yet know when the ability to anticipate this emotion emerges, despite the importance of the anticipation of regret in decision-making. We examined whether children will anticipate they will feel regret if they were to find out in a box-choosing game that, had they made a different choice, they would have obtained a better prize. Experiment 1 replicated Guttentag and Ferrell's study in which children were asked what they hoped was in a non-chosen box. Even 8- to 9-year olds find this question difficult. However, when asked what might make them feel sadder, 7- to 8-year olds (but not younger children) predicted that finding the larger prize in the unchosen box would make them feel this way. In Experiments 2 and 3, children predicted how they would feel if the unchosen box contained either a larger or smaller prize, in order to examine anticipation of both regret and of relief. Although 6- to 7-year olds do experience regret when they find out they could have won a better prize, they do not correctly anticipate feeling this way. By around 8 years, the majority of children are able to anticipate both regret and relief.     

The similarity heuristic

Decision makers often make snap judgments using fast‐and‐frugal decision rules called cognitive heuristics. Research into cognitive heuristics has been divided into two camps. One camp has emphasized the limitations and biases produced by the heuristics; another has focused on the accuracy of heuristics and their ecological validity. In this paper we investigate a heuristic proposed by the first camp, using the methods of the second. We investigate a subset of the representativeness heuristic we call the “similarity” heuristic, whereby decision makers who use it judge the likelihood that an instance is a member of one category rather than another by the degree to which it is similar to others in that category. We provide a mathematical model of the heuristic and test it experimentally in a trinomial environment. In this environment, the similarity heuristic turns out to be a reliable and accurate choice rule and both choice and response time data suggest it is also how choices are made. We conclude with a theoretical discussion of how our work fits in the broader “fast‐and‐frugal” heuristics program, and of the boundary conditions for the similarity heuristic. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The limited effects of power on satisfaction with joint consumption decisions

We conduct three experiments in which participants in dyads choose between two restaurants, each of which is preferred by only one participant, and one participant has the power to decide which restaurant both will patronize. We find that the power to make a joint decision increases satisfaction with the choice only when those involved have a competitive decision orientation, a weak or anonymous relationship, and the outcome they choose is subsequently available. Participants who have a cooperative orientation are satisfied whether or not they have power and whether or not the resulting choice is consistent with their initial preferences.     

The Self as a Moral Agent: Preschoolers Behave Morally but Believe in the Freedom to Do Otherwise

Recent work suggests a strong connection between intuitions regarding our own free will and our moral behavior. We investigate the origins of this link by asking whether preschool-aged children construe their own moral actions as freely chosen. We gave children the option to make three moral/social choices (avoiding harm to another, following a rule, and following peer behavior) and then asked them to retrospect as to whether they were free to have done otherwise. When given the choice to act (either morally or immorally), children avoided harm and abided by rules, but they endorsed their freedom to have done otherwise. When choice was restricted by adult instruction, children did not endorse their free choice and indicated feeling constrained by moral obligation in their explanatory responses. These results suggest that children believe that their moral actions afford free will, but this belief is dependent on their experience of choice.     

风险决策过程验证：补偿/非补偿模型之争的新认识与新证据

风险决策是人类赖以生存和发展的重大决策。如何进行风险决策是人类不断认识和改造世界过程中遇到的未解之谜。主流风险理论认为, 风险决策是一个补偿性的、期望值最大化的过程; 而非主流的风险理论则认为, 风险决策是非补偿性的, 并不遵循期望法则所假设的加权求和等过程。这一谜团为何一直没有得以破解, 或许是因为我们未找到揭示其心理过程的令人信服的证据。近10年来, 我们针对风险决策过程, 借助行为实验、眼动记录法、事件相关电位、功能磁共振成像等技术, 系统探索风险决策的心理和神经机制, 为回答“风险决策是否遵循补偿性规则”这一问题提供了汇聚性证据。本文依据期望法则所假设的概率函数推导、加权过程、加权求和过程、总分最大化等步骤, 对这些研究进行梳理与回顾, 以期加深人们对风险决策机制的理解, 并为建立、健全与风险决策相关的政策、法律法规提供理论依据。     

Parental influence on youth propensity to join the military

The purpose of this research was to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in a model of youths’ career choice intentions and parents’ recommendation intentions. Specifically, a TPB model was developed for youth-parent dyads and tested with SEM to examine parental influence on youth intentions as well as behavior. Results indicated that a modified TPB model is useful for describing how youth and parent beliefs translate into enlistment intentions and pre-enlistment behavior. The strongest impact parents appeared to have on their children was through efficacy beliefs, followed by the link between parents’ attitudes and youths’ normative beliefs. Implications for recruitment and outreach efforts are discussed.     

Should I save or should I not kill? How people solve moral dilemmas depends on which rule is most accessible

The literature on how people solve moral dilemmas often focuses on situations in which individuals have to make a decision where different moral rules are in conflict. In some of these situations, such as in footbridge dilemmas, people have to choose between sacrificing a few people in order to save many. The present research focuses on how people decide what to do in dilemmas involving conflicting moral rules. We propose that the rule that is cognitively most accessible during the decision making process (e.g., “Save lives” or “Do not kill”) will influence how people solve these moral dilemmas. Three studies are reported that indeed demonstrate that the most accessible rule influences willingness to intervene within footbridge dilemmas. This effect is found even when the accessibility of the rule is induced subliminally.     

迫选规则体验法: 检验规范性和描述性风险决策理论的新尝试

为寻求检验规范性和描述性风险决策理论的通用标准, 本研究以期望价值理论和齐当别抉择模型为例, 探讨了“迫选规则体验法”的适用性。被试为120名大学生, 实验任务为要求被试分别完成自主决策(采用未知规则: 真规则)和规则迫选决策(遵循给定规则: 假规则)任务, 并对决策后的情感和认可程度进行评定。研究发现: (1) 被试在自主决策条件下比在规则迫选条件下体验到的正性情感程度更强, 负性情感的程度更弱; (2) 被试在自主决策与规则迫选决策两种条件下做出的相同决策越多, 该被试对迫选规则更加认可并体验到的正性情感程度越强, 负性情感的程度越弱; (3) 与期望价值理论相比, 齐当别抉择模型可能符合更多决策者的实际决策规则。这些结果表明, 作为检验规范性和描述性风险决策理论的新尝试, 迫选规则体验法可能更有助于回答“决策者实际采用的决策规则是什么”的问题。     

In Defence of State Directed Enhancement

This article considers the ways in which a liberal society ought to view the potential to cognitively or physically enhance children. At present, the dominant approach in the literature is to leave this decision to parents. I suggest that the parental choice approach is often inadequate and fails to account properly for the interests of children and wider society in enhancement decisions. Instead I suggest that the state should play a greater role in determining when, and how, to enhance. To make this case, I compare the case of enhancement with existing practices of education, an area in which the state already plays a significant role. Finally I suggest that some concerns with a statist approach are not as serious as has been argued.     

Development of decision making: sequential versus integrative rules

Decisions can be made by applying a variety of decision-making rules-sequential rules in which decisions are based on a sequential evaluation of choice dimensions and the integrative normative rule in which decisions are based on an integration of choice dimensions. In this study, we investigated the developmental trajectory of such decision-making rules. In the Gambling Machine Task, participants choose between options that differ in three dimensions: frequency of loss, amount of loss, and certain gain. The task was administered to 231 children and adolescents (age range=8-17 years). Latent group analysis of their performance allowed precise classification of the underlying decision rules. The majority of participants used sequential decision rules, and the number of evaluated dimensions in these rules increased with age. Integrative rule use decreased with age. We discuss these results in light of traditional developmental theories and fuzzy trace theory.     

Analysis of proposed three-class classification decision rules in terms of the ideal observer decision rule

We analyze recently proposed decision rules for three-class classification from the point of view of ideal observer decision theory. We consider three-class decision rules proposed by Scurfield, by Chan et al., and by Mossman. Scurfield's decision rule is shown to be a special case of the three-class ideal observer decision rule in three different situations. Chan et al. start with an ideal observer model and specify its decision-consequence utility structure in a way that causes two of the decision lines used by the ideal observer to overlap and the third line to become undefined. Finally, we show that, for a particular and obvious choice of ideal-observer-related decision variables, the Mossman decision rule cannot be a special case of the ideal observer decision rule. Despite the considerable difficulties presented by the three-class classification task, the three-class ideal observer provides a useful framework for analyzing a variety of three-class decision strategies.