From a Static to a Dynamic Approach to the Study of Partner Violence

Feminist and family violence scholars disagree over how partner violence should be studied and understood. One may expect that the use of different observation units would serve as a backdrop to the controversy, yet most studies in the field are based on single individual behavioral units of observation that are context-free. The present article attempts to propose a complementary or alternative observational unit. This unit of observation focuses on the aggressive interactions between the intimate partners, and enables researchers not only to explore the causes and consequences of the aggressive behavior but also to capture and analyze the dynamics of the partners’ conflicts that escalate to violence. The interactional observation unit can serve to advance the accumulating knowledge in the field as well as the discussion on the role of gender in partner violence.     

Multiple Systems in Decision Making: A Neurocomputational Perspective

ABSTRACT— Various psychological models posit the existence of two systems that contribute to decision making. The first system is bottom-up, automatic, intuitive, emotional, and implicit, while the second system is top-down, controlled, deliberative, and explicit. It has become increasingly evident that this dichotomy is both too simplistic and too vague. Here we consider insights gained from a different approach, one that considers the multiple computational demands of the decision-making system in the context of neural mechanisms specialized to accomplish some of that system's more basic functions. The use of explicit computational models has led to (a) identification of core trade-offs imposed by a single-system solution to cognitive problems that are solved by having multiple neural systems, and (b) novel predictions that can be tested empirically and that serve to further refine the models.     

Synthesizing Results From an Interest and a Personality Inventory to Improve Career Decision Making

This article illustrates how career counselors can integrate the results from two widely used instruments—the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory—to enhance a client's decision-making ability.     

Moral Orientation as a Component of Ethical Decision Making

Morals are foundational to professional and ethical counseling practice. Moral orientation may play an integral role in ethical decision making. The authors review the literature regarding moral orientation and discuss the connection to ethical decision making. Implications for counselor preparation and practice are addressed.     

Jury Deliberations: Discussion Content and Influence Processes in Jury Decision Making1

The present research investigated the jury deliberation process. Representative juror subjects viewed a realistic videotaped trial consisting of three offenses, deliberated in groups of six and reached verdicts on each charge, and completed a post-deliberation questionnaire that assessed individual cognitions. Deliberations were videotaped and content-analyzed. The results indicated that the initial vote distribution was a good predictor of the final verdict; majorities tended to prevail. Deliberation content was concentrated primarily in two areas: (a) the facts of the case and (b) statements of preference for guilty or not guilty verdicts. Path analyses suggested that decisions on the first charge were based jointly on the content of deliberations and on the group vote distribution, whereas decisions on later charges were based largely on normative pressures. Jurors' post-deliberation impressions of the trial were affected by whether or not they had changed votes during deliberations.     

Multiattribute Decision Making in Context: A Dynamic Neural Network Methodology

A theoretical structure for multiattribute decision making is presented, based on a dynamical system for interactions in a neural network incorporating affective and rational variables. This enables modeling of problems that elude two prevailing economic decision theories: subjective expected utility theory and prospect theory. The network is unlike some that fit economic data by choosing optimal weights or coefficients within a predetermined mathematical framework. Rather, the framework itself is based on principles used elsewhere to model many other cognitive and behavioral data, in a manner approximating how humans perform behavioral functions. Different, interconnected modules within the network encode (a) attributes of objects among which choices are made, (b) object categories, (c) and goals of the decision maker. An example is utilized to simulate the actual consumer choice between old and new versions of Coca-Cola. Potential applications are also discussed to market decisions involving negotiations between participants, such as international petroleum traders.     

TARGET ARTICLE: Duality Models in Social Psychology: From Dual Processes to Interacting Systems

Dual-system models explain social cognition and behavior as a joint function of 2 interconnected mental faculties, each operating according to different principles. In this article, we use the Reflective-Impulsive Model as an example and first describe 3 major advantages of dual-system models, i.e., their integrative power, their foundation in well-established constructs of cognition and neuroscience; and the ease with which they can explain the interplay of judgments and nonjudgmental processes. We then turn to current debates on the adequate number of systems, as well as on the role of freedom and consciousness. We conclude by stating that dual-system models are versatile tools to integrate existing findings and to stimulate new research in social cognition and beyond.     

From Performance to Decision Processes in 33 Years: A History ofOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Processesunder James C. Naylor

For the past 33 years,Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processeshas thrived under a single editor. That editor, James C. Naylor, is retiring from his long stewardship. This article chronicles the course of the journal under Jim's direction and marks some of the accomplishments and changes over the past three decades that go to his credit.     

Persuasion: From Single to Multiple to Metacognitive Processes

ABSTRACT— This article provides a brief overview of major developments in the history of contemporary persuasion theory. The first intuitive and empirical approaches to persuasion were guided by main-effect questions (e.g., are experts more persuasive than nonexperts?). Furthermore, researchers focused on only one process by which variables (e.g., emotion, source credibility) would have an impact (e.g., emotion affected attitudes by classical conditioning). As data began to accumulate, so many new theories and effects were uncovered that the discipline faced collapse from the numerous inconsistencies evident. In response to the reigning confusion of the previous era, contemporary multiprocess theories were proposed (e.g., the elaboration likelihood model). According to these more integrative approaches, any one variable could affect attitudes by different processes in different situations and thereby sometimes produce opposite effects. Finally, we describe the role of a recently discovered new contributor to persuasion: self-validation. Unlike previous mechanisms that focus on primary cognition, this new process emphasizes secondary or meta-cognition.     

Adult Age Differences in Dual Information Processes: Implications for the Role of Affective and Deliberative Processes in Older Adults' Decision Making

ABSTRACT— Age differences in affective/experiential and deliberative processes have important theoretical implications for judgment and decision theory and important pragmatic implications for older-adult decision making. Age-related declines in the efficiency of deliberative processes predict poorer-quality decisions as we age. However, age-related adaptive processes, including motivated selectivity in the use of deliberative capacity, an increased focus on emotional goals, and greater experience, predict better or worse decisions for older adults depending on the situation. The aim of the current review is to examine adult age differences in affective and deliberative information processes in order to understand their potential impact on judgments and decisions. We review evidence for the role of these dual processes in judgment and decision making and then review two representative life-span perspectives (based on aging-related changes to cognitive or motivational processes) on the interplay between these processes. We present relevant predictions for older-adult decisions and make note of contradictions and gaps that currently exist in the literature. Finally, we review the sparse evidence about age differences in decision making and how theories and findings regarding dual processes could be applied to decision theory and decision aiding. In particular, we focus on prospect theory ( Kahneman & Tversky, 1979 ) and how prospect theory and theories regarding age differences in information processing can inform one another.     

The Dynamics of General Developmental Mechanisms: From Piaget and Vygotsky to Dynamic Systems Models

Dynamic systems theory conceives of development as a self-organizational process. Both complexity and order emerge as a product of elementary principles of interaction between components involved in the developmental process. This article presents a dynamic systems model based on a general dual developmental mechanism, adapted from Piaget and Vygotsky. The mechanism consists of a conservative force, further strengthening the already-consolidated level, and a progressive force, consolidating internal contents and procedures at more advanced levels. It is argued that this dual mechanism constitutes one of the few basic laws of learning and change, and is comparable to the laws of effect and of contiguity. Simulation studies suggest that this dual mechanism explains self-organization in developmental paths, including the emergence of discrete jumps from one equilibrium level to another, S-shaped growth, and the occurrence of co-existing levels.     

Theoretical Frameworks for the Study of Structuring Processes in Group Decision Support Systems

Most theoretical perspectives used to explain the use and effects of communication and decision support technologies assume some form of technological determinism. Inconsistencies in the research findings have prompted theorists to reject the assumptions of technological determinism in favor of an emergent perspective. To date, only adaptive Structuration theory (AST) offers the promise of satisfying two requirements for explanation based on an emergent perspective: recursivity and unique effects. The current article reviews the application of AST to the study of a relatively recent technology in the work place—group decision support systems (GDSS). Next it discusses AST's challenge to capture, dynamically and precisely, GDSS processes and outcomes. In response to these concerns, self-organizing systems theory (SOST) is reviewed and applied to problematic areas in GDSS research with the aim of advancing AST.     

Individualism-Collectivism as a Boundary Condition for Effectiveness of Minority Influence in Decision Making

Results of this experiment demonstrate that individualists and collectivists react differently to minority influence. Based on the distinction between objectivity and preference norms in the minority influence literature, we hypothesize that individualism and collectivism influence (A) responses to minority influence (focusing on the target of influence) and (B) effectiveness of minority influence (focusing on the influence agent). Our results replicate past research and demonstrate improved decision quality for individuals exposed to a minority perspective. Moreover, minority influence targets with high horizontal individualism and low horizontal collectivism made higher quality decisions. Influence targets with high vertical collectivism demonstrated higher quality decisions when the influence agent held a high status position in the group. Results also demonstrate that influence agents with high vertical individualism experienced less role stress than those with low vertical individualism. Finally, influence agents with low role stress were more effective in influencing the decision making of others. We discuss our findings in terms of boundary conditions to the minority influence process.     

Cognitive Diversity and Consensus in Group Decision Making: The Role of Inputs, Processes, and Outcomes

This study contributes to the new and growing body of research on shared cognition by examining how individuals entering a group decision-making context with different perspectives of the issues to be discussed arrive at cognitive consensus. Cognitive consensus refers to similarity among group members regarding how key matters are conceptualized and was operationalized as shared assumptions underlying decision issues in the present research. Utilizing 37 student groups participating in a multi-issue decision-making exercise, the study investigated antecedents and correlates of cognitive consensus. Results revealed that unanimity decision rule groups achieved more cognitive consensus than majority rule groups. In addition, group members inquiring concerning the reasons underlying others' decision preferences, accepting others' viewpoints as legitimate, and incorporating others' perspectives into their own interpretations of the issues was positively related to arriving at a greater degree of cognitive consensus. Cognitive consensus also positively influenced expectations regarding decision implementation and satisfaction.     

Group and Individual Decision Making for Task Performance Goals: Processes in the Establishment of Goals:in Groups1

The study examines the processes by which goals in groups are established. Performance goals and preferences for goals were stated by individuals acting alone, by groups deciding in unison, and by group members. All subjects performed a card-sorting task as individuals, and self-set goals were selected for expected levels of individual performance. Groups selected goals that were less difficult than individual goals on several occasions of goal setting. Analysis of the group goal decisions suggests that a success-based social comparison process occurs that implies groups select a goal slightly lower than the average of the member preferences so that the group members may appear successful. Analyses also indicated that the lower group goals arose quickly in the group interaction, and that group members readily adopted the lower goals as appropriate levels of performance. Discussion focuses on the observed differences among group, group member, and individual performance goals, and the ability of the success-based social comparison process to account for these differences.     

Decision Neuroscience: New Directions in Studies of Judgment and Decision Making

ABSTRACT— Investigations of decision making have historically been undertaken by different disciplines, each using different techniques and assumptions, and few unifying efforts have been made. Economists have focused on precise mathematical models of normative decision making, psychologists have examined how decisions are actually made based on cognitive constraints, and neuroscientists have concentrated on the detailed operation of neural systems in simple choices. In recent years, however, researchers in these separate fields have joined forces in an attempt to better specify the foundations of decision making. This interdisciplinary effort has begun to use decision theory to guide the search for the neural bases of reward value and predictability. Concurrently, these formal models are beginning to incorporate processes such as social reward and emotion. The combination of these diverse theoretical approaches and methodologies is already yielding significant progress in the construction of more comprehensive decision-making models.     

Decision Making Versus Decision Implementation: An Action Control Approach to Exercise Adoption and Adherence1

Two studies were conducted, one involving adoption of an exercise program and the other involving adherence to an aerobics exercise program. Consistent with action control theory, it was hypothesized that (a) subjective expected utility theory would predict exercise intentions but not exercise behavior in each study; (b) exercise adoption (Study 1) and attendance at an aerobics class (Study 2) would be predictable from the intentions regarding these behaviors expressed by action-oriented but not state-oriented subjects; and (c) subjects who had engaged in planning in regard to exercising would be more likely to adopt an exercise program (Study 1) and would exercise more frequently (Study 2). The findings provide some support for all three hypotheses. Implications of this research are discussed in regard to the distinction between decision making and decision implementation or action control; the relative usefulness of an action-control versus an expectancy-value approach for behavior involving complex decision implementation over a long period of time; the value of action orientation as a moderator of intention-behavior relationships; and the role of planning in exercise behavior.     

Systems Theory and Family Therapy: From a Critique on Systems Theory to a Theory on System Change

Some system therapists reject the systemic view for various reasons, often related to violence, victimisation and power. This critique is based on an outdated narrow and incomplete knowledge of linear systems theory. A better understanding of these linear systems theories and of systems levels of organisation already answers much of the critique, but does not explain change. For the latter, a theory of how systems change is necessary for systems therapy in general and family therapy in particular. Modern dynamic systems and chaos theory are most useful to understand change, chaos, history, unpredictability and flexibility.