The Effects of Alternative Labels on Decision Behavior: The Case of Corporate Site Selection Decisions

The influence of alternative labels on decision processes and outcomes were examined in a multidimensional decision task with realistic decision information and experienced decision makers. Based on prior research, it was predicted that labels would influence selection and ratings of decision alternatives, as well as the extent of information search and the information search strategies. Subjects (n = 26) experienced in making and/or aiding business relocation decisions completed two computer controlled site selection tasks: one with labeled locations and one with unlabeled locations. Results indicated that labeling influenced both decision processes and location ratings. An interaction between order of task completion and labeling suggested that labeling effects on decision making may be minimized if an unlabeled task is completed prior to a labeled task. Implications and limitations are discussed in terms of labeling effects and decision quality.     

Relinquishment of control and the type A behavior pattern: the role of performance evaluation

We investigated the role of information processing in the control relinquishment decisions of Type As and Bs. Pairs of subjects worked independently on a task and received feedback indicating that their partner had performed at a comparable or superior level. On a second task, subjects combined their efforts and made decisions concerning who would work on different parts of that task. One third of the subjects made this decision before completing an evaluation of the initial performances. Another third completed the evaluation without knowing that they would subsequently make a control decision. The final third of the subjects completed their evaluations knowing that a control decision would follow. Results indicated that when the evaluations were completed last, or when the evaluations were completed first but without knowledge of the impending decision, Type As relinquished less control to a superior partner than did Type Bs. When the evaluations were completed with knowledge of an impending control decision, Type As and Bs did not differ in their decisions. These results suggest that under certain conditions, Type As use an automatic or mindless decision style with potentially maladaptive consequences.     

信息完整性与应聘者数量对不同认知闭合需要者招聘决策的影响

结合问卷和信息板技术,探讨了信息完整性和应聘者数量对不同认知闭合需要个体招聘决策过程发挥的潜在影响。结果显示：（1）高认知闭合需要招聘者平均决策时间更短,探索深度更浅,信息了解的更少;（2）信息完整条件下,招聘者平均决策时间更短,探索深度更浅;信息不完整条件下,低认知闭合需要招聘者的平均搜索时间增幅较大;（3）随着应聘者人数的增加,招聘者平均决策时间变长,低认知闭合需要招聘者平均搜索时间增幅较大,且两者探索模式都趋于属性加工。这意味着信息完整性与应聘者数量对不同认知闭合需要招聘者的决策影响不同,应注意培训招聘者的决策能力,提高员工招聘质量。     

Down the Garden Path: The Role of Conditional Inference Processes in Self‐Persuasion

In a controlled experiment, information format and prior knowledge of risk‐related decision attributes altered the response to decision conflict produced by negatively correlated attributes (NCA) in choice under uncertainty. When dominated choice alternatives were presented in a format in which the displayed attributes were not negatively correlated, decision makers used a simple choice process based on the displayed information. This allowed them to detect the dominated alternatives, regardless of their prior knowledge. However, when the same alternatives were presented in a format in which the displayed attributes were negatively correlated, the more‐knowledgeable decision makers used a compensatory choice process based on the displayed attributes and, consequently, missed the dominated alternatives. The less‐knowledgeable participants, who were unable to use the displayed attributes because of their lack of expertise, calculated the nondisplayed attributes and detected the dominated alternatives. With NCA, the more‐knowledgeable participants followed a conflict‐resolution strategy using the displayed NCAs, whereas the less‐knowledgeable individuals followed a conflict‐avoidance strategy using the uncorrelated, nondisplayed attributes that inadvertently revealed the dominance structure of the decision. The implications of person factors for the effects of NCA and in other types of decisions with NCA are discussed.     

The effects of routine strength on adaptation and information search in recurrent decision making

The strength of decision routines was manipulated within a computer-controlled micro world simulation involving recurrent decision making. During a learning phase, participants were led to prefer a certain brand of an industrial good either about 15 times in a weak routine or about 30 times in a strong routine condition. In the test phase of Experiment 1, participants were confronted with changes in the microworld that rendered the routine obsolete. Routine maintenance over a series of repeated acquisition decisions was assessed as the major dependent variable. Although new information clearly suggested that a deviation from the routine would be beneficial, strong routine participants were more likely to maintain the routine compared to weak routine participants and a control group in which a comparable option (same outcome probabilities as the routine) carried an unfamiliar brand label. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of routine strength on information search. After having learned the routine, participants were asked to make one final decision involving the routine. The task was either framed as being similar to the learning task or as being novel. Before making the final decision, participants were asked to consider new information about the alternatives. Strong routine participants in the familiar task condition preferred information that favored the routine and avoided unfavorable information. If the task was framed as being novel, such confirmation biases disappeared completely. In contrast, weak routine participants exhibited a moderate confirmation bias in their searches independent from task framing.     

Rater information acquisition processes: Tracing the effects of prior knowledge, performance level, search constraint, and memory demand

Research on performance ratings has tended to neglect factors affecting raters' acquisition of ratee performance information. The present research examined the dynamic effects of this rater information acquisition process. Study 1 examined the effects of prior ratee knowledge (familiarity) and ratee performance level on subsequent acquisition of ratee performance information under varying levels of constraint. After exposure to prior ratee information, raters acquired additional information concerning a set of ratees using a computer controlled information board procedure. The results indicated significant effects on the amount of search for prior knowledge, search constraint, and the interaction between prior knowledge and performance level. Study 2 extended the research by including a memory component (time delay) between the exposure to prior information and subsequent search. Results were congruent with Study 1. They indicated significant main effects on the amount of search for prior knowledge, ratee performance level, search constraint, and on the interaction between prior knowledge and performance level. In addition, the results indicated a significant interaction between memory demand and prior knowledge. Implications of these results, limitations, and extensions of this research approach are discussed.     

Risky choice: An examination of information acquisition behavior

The monitoring of information acquisition behavior, along with other process tracing measures such as response times, was used to examine how individuals process information about gambles into a decision. Subjects indicated preferences among specially constructed three-outcome gambles. The number of alternatives available was varied across the sets of gambles. A majority of the subjects processed information about the gambles in ways inconsistent with compensatory models of risky decision making, such as information integration (Anderson & Shanteau, 1970). Furthermore, the inconsistency between observed information acquisition behavior and such compensatory rules increased as the choice task became more complex. Alternative explanations of risky choice behavior are considered.     

Does Feedback Improve the Accuracy of Recurrent Judgmental Forecasts?

Feedback has been shown to be a useful tool for improving decision making (Balzeret al.,1992) and might also be a useful tool for improving the accuracy of recurrent judgmental forecasts. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of feedback on accuracy when forecasting time series with structural instabilities. We found that task information feedback (prompting on the underlying structure of the time series) gave significantly better forecasting performance than performance outcome feedback (prompting with graphical indicators of forecasting accuracy or prompting words expressing levels of forecasting accuracy). We also found that adding cognitive information feedback (prompting on desirable forecasting behaviors) to task information feedback did not significantly improve forecasting performance. Task information and task information feedback with added cognitive information feedback, but not performance outcome feedback, were superior to the baseline of providing simple outcome feedback (following each forecast with the actual value of the time series).     

Does the feedback from previous trials influence current decisions? A study on the role of feedback processing in making decisions under explicit risk conditions

Decision situations frequently provide information about the amount of gains and losses and winning probabilities. In decisions under these conditions, also called risk conditions, both the use of feedback and executive functions have been shown to influence the decision‐making process, as revealed in different patient populations. However, the influence of offering feedback in tasks examining decisions under risk conditions has not been investigated experimentally, so far. This was the aim of the present study. For this purpose, a sample of healthy individuals was examined with the Game of Dice Task, a decision‐making task that explicitly provides the rules for gains and losses and in which participants receive feedback after each trial. In addition, a modified version of this task was performed, in which the feedback after each trial and all associated feedback components were removed. Results indicate that participants had a lower performance in the modified Dice Task without feedback. They selected the disadvantageous alternatives more frequently, when they did not receive feedback following their choices. Task performance in either version was correlated with executive functioning. Conclusion: In decisions under risk conditions, both executive functions as well as the use of feedback following previous trials are important components for optimal performance. Results have implications for the interpretation of deficient decision making in patients with neuropsychological impairments as both disturbances in categorization and other cognitive processes as well as emotional dysfunctions can compromise decision making in risky situations.     

Depressive symptoms enhance loss-minimization, but attenuate gain-maximization in history-dependent decision-making

Individuals with depressive symptoms typically show deficits in decision-making. However, most work has emphasized decision-making under gain-maximization conditions. A gain-maximization framework may undermine decision-making when depressive symptoms are present because depressives are generally more sensitive to losses than gains. The present study examined decision making in a non-clinical sample of depressive and non-depressive individuals under gain-maximization or loss-minimization conditions using a task for which the currently available rewards depend upon participants' previous history of choices. As predicted, we found a cross over interaction whereby depressive individuals were superior to non-depressive individuals under loss-minimization conditions, but were inferior to non-depressive individuals under gain-maximization conditions. In addition, we found that loss-minimization performance was superior to gain-maximization performance for depressive individuals, but that gain-maximization performance was superior to loss-minimization performance for non-depressive individuals. These results suggest that decision making deficits observed when depressive symptoms are present may be attenuated when decisions involve minimizing losses rather than maximizing gains.     

Conflict and Loss Aversion in Multiattribute Choice: The Effects of Trade-Off Size and Reference Dependence on Decision Difficulty

Two experiments assess the type and amount of conflict influencing decision difficulty in hypothetical scenarios where subjects chose between two alternatives made to appear relatively attractive (approach–approach conflicts) or relatively unattractive (avoidance-avoidance conflicts), each involving attribute trade-offs across alternatives (embedded approach–avoidance conflicts). In Experiment 1, independent of information processing demands, decisions are more difficult when alternatives are unattractive and/or attribute trade-offs are large. Reference states that change the relative attractiveness of the alternatives increase or decrease decision difficulty in a manner consistent with loss aversion: Superior reference states increase decision difficulty more than inferior reference states reduce it. Experiment 2 further tests the reference dependence of decision difficulty by varying the nature of the reference state (stated comparators, as in Experiment 1, or endowments) as well as its extremity. Endowed reference states affect decision difficulty more than reference states that are stated comparators. Moreover, consistent with loss aversion, inferior reference states that are twice as extreme as superior reference states reduce decision difficulty about as much as the superior reference states increase it. The results demonstrate that decisions can be made easier or harder by way of reference dependence, and that the loss aversion so prevalent in preference formation generalizes to perceptions of decision difficulty in multiattribute settings.     

Methodological issues in judgment and decision-making research: Concurrent verbal protocol validity and simultaneous traces of process

This paper examines two dimensions of concurrent verbal protocol validity. First, whether verbalization affects process and outcome (reactivity) was examined by comparing concurrent verbal protocol traces with those from a computer search process tracing method, the latter being a complete trace of information acquisition from experimental materials. Earlier findings that verbalization affects time were confirmed. However, verbalization did not affect amount and pattern of acquisition or accuracy of judgments. Second, whether concurrent verbal protocols are complete was examined by comparing concurrent verbal protocol and computer traces that were simultaneously obtained in a treatment in which subjects verbalized as they acquired information from the computer. The verbal traces less completely captured information acquisition behavior than computer search. This suggests that, although concurrent verbal protocols provide greater insight into decision behavior than computer search, the latter is a more reliable information-acquisition trace. Thus, if information acquisition is of primary interest and if computer search activities can be naturally integrated into performing the primary task, computer search is preferred to concurrent verbal protocols. However, if information use or retrieval from long-term memory is of primary interest, concurrent verbal protocols are preferred to computer search. Finally, this paper examined whether the simultaneous use of concurrent verbal protocols and computer search provides traces of information acquisition and use that are as complete as when each method is independently applied. Although computer search tended to limit subjects verbalizations of evaluative operators, this effect may be eliminated by practice on the computer prior to collecting data.     

情绪、职业数量对不同职业生涯延迟满足大学生职业决策过程的影响

为探究情绪与职业数量对不同职业生涯延迟满足个体职业决策过程的可能潜在影响,分别对40名高、低职业生涯延迟满足倾向的大学生被试诱发正、负性情绪并完成信息板技术模拟的职业决策任务。结果显示:1)高延迟满足个体的搜索深度和搜索模式显著大于低延迟满足个体;2)不同延迟满足的个体在正性情绪或低职业数量条件下都表现出更好的搜索深度和搜索模式;3)在不同情绪及职业数量条件下,高延迟满足个体在不同职业属性间的搜索更多。职业生涯延迟满足倾向作为与未来规划密切联系的概念,揭示了个体职业生涯规划对其职业决策过程可能存在的影响。     

Predecisional information acquisition: Effects of task variables on suboptimal search strategies

Effective overall performance in judgment tasks generally involves both acquisition of information and integration of the information acquired. When information is costly the decision maker must balance acquisition costs against improved decisional accuracy, a complex balancing problem in which, laboratory evidence suggests, humans often do poorly. The three experiments reported here extend this earlier evidence to different task structures, subject pools, incentive systems, information volumes, decision aids, and kind of data sources. Though each of these factors was found to affect performance, the general finding was of persistent underpurchase (buying less information overall than is optimal) and mispurchase (buying poor sources when better sources are available at the same cost), with significant inflation of overall costs. It is proposed that unaided human judgment is unequal to the complexity of the cost/benefit trade-offs involved in acquiring costly information, and that formal decision analysis should be preferred whenever the stakes justify.     

Decisions from experience: How groups and individuals adapt to change

Whether groups make better judgments and decisions than individuals has been studied extensively, but most of this research has focused on static tasks. How do groups and individuals compare in settings where the decision environment changes unexpectedly and without notification? This article examines group and individual behavior in decisions from experience where the underlying probabilities change after some trials. Consistent with the previous literature, the results showed that groups performed better than the average individual while the decision task was stable. However, group performance was no longer superior after a change in the decision environment. Group performance was closer to the benchmark of Bayesian updating, which assumed perfect memory. Findings suggest that groups did not adopt decision routines that might have delayed their adaption to change in the environment. Rather, they seem to have coordinated their responses, which led them to behave as if they had better memory and subsequently delayed adaptation.     

Risking Everything in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: An Analogue Decision-Making Study

An experiment examined decision-making processes among nonclinical participants with low or high levels of OCD symptomatology (N?=?303). To better simulate the decision environments that are most likely to be problematic for clients with OCD, we employed decision tasks that incorporated “black swan” options that have a very low probability but involve substantial loss. When faced with a choice between a safer option that involved no risk of loss or a riskier alternative with a very low probability of substantial loss, most participants chose the safer option regardless of OCD symptom level. However, when faced with choices between options that had similar expected values to the previous choices, but where each option had some low risk of a substantial loss, there was a significant shift towards riskier decisions. These effects were stronger when the task involved a contamination based, health-relevant decision task as compared to one with financial outcomes. The results suggest that both low and high symptom OC participants approach decisions involving risk-free options and decisions involving risky alternatives in qualitatively different ways. There was some evidence that measures of impulsivity were better predictors of the shift to risky decision making than OCD symptomatology.

     

Ostracism Reduces Reliance on Poor Advice from Others during Decision Making

Decision making is rarely context‐free, and often, both social information and non‐social information are weighed into one's decisions. Incorporating information into a decision can be influenced by previous experiences. Ostracism has extensive effects, including taxing cognitive resources and increasing social monitoring. In decision making situations, individuals are often faced with both objective and social information and must choose which information to include or filter out. How will ostracism affect the reliance on objective and social information during decision making? Participants (N = 245) in Experiment 1 were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized in a standardized, group task. They then performed a dynamic decision making task that involved the presentation of either non‐social (i.e. biased reward feedback) or social (i.e., poor advice from a previous participant) misleading information. In Experiment 2, participants (N = 105) completed either the ostracism non‐social condition or social misleading information condition with explicit instructions stating that the advice given was from an individual who did not partake in the group task. Ostracized individuals relied more on non‐social misleading information and performed worse than included individuals. However, ostracized individuals discounted misleading social information and outperformed included individuals. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1. Across two experiments, ostracized individuals were more critical of advice from others, both individuals who may have ostracized them and unrelated individuals. In other words, compared with included individuals, ostracized individuals underweighted advice from another individual but overweighed non‐social information during decision making. We conclude that when deceptive objective information is present, ostracism results in disadvantageous decision making. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

选项数量和属性重要性对决策中信息加工的影响

本研究采用决策过程研究方法中的信息板技术,以现实生活中的职业选择作为决策任务,考察了选项数量和选项属性的重要性对决策过程中信息加工的影响方式。结果表明:选项数量对决策过程的信息搜索深度、搜索模式和策略的补偿性产生了影响;选项属性的重要性并不影响决策者对属性的查看时间,但影响了决策者对属性的点击次数。     

The role of attitudes in memory-based decision making

Frequently, considerable knowledge of the attributes of decision alternatives is available in memory so as to permit a thoughtful and deliberate choice. However, in many instances, individuals neglect to use such knowledge and instead rely on "attitude-based" strategy to make a memory-based decision. The findings from two experiments suggest that as to the motivation to make a correct decision or the opportunity to use the available attribute knowledge decreases, the likelihood that attitudes will guide a memory-based decision increases. The findings illustrate the functional role attitudes play in guiding decisions and behavior. By providing a ready means of evaluating choice alternatives, attitudes enable an individual to make a decision relatively quickly and effortlessly.