Studying judgement: General issues

The previous papers raise a number of issues. How should we develop task typologies both to separate judgement from related cognitive tasks and to classify tasks within the judgement domain? Are there grounds for selecting between models of judgement when empirical tests fail to do so? What techniques can be used to find out more about the cognitive processes underlying judgement behaviour? I discuss these issues and give a brief assessment of the current state of play in this rapidly changing area.     

Comparing Illicit Trades in Wildlife and Drugs: An Exploratory Study

This article is an exploratory study into the similarities, differences, and overlaps between the illegal wildlife trade and the illegal drug trade, using original and literature-based research from the Russian Far East and Western Europe, respectively. The purpose of such a comparison is to gain further insight into the illegal wildlife trade through the examination of the more thoroughly studied illegal drug trade. We first examine the global size of these markets and then detail and compare actors and smuggling operations found in each. This leads to a possible typology of features that the trades have in common and to discussion of the direct linkages between these two illicit markets.     

Algorithmic responding on the radial maze in rats does not always imply absence of spatial encoding

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether consistent algorithmic response patterning on 8- and 10-arm versions of the radial maze is independent of spatial encoding. On the 8-arm version well-trained hooded rats were tested in darkness, after maze rotation that rendered room cues ambiguous with respect to arm positions, or with room cues unsystematically relocated. Ambiguous maze rotation was also used with well-trained subjects on the 10-arm version. If algorithmic patterning is a learned, non-spatial strategy, animals using it consistently ought not to have been affected by changes in the spatial layout of the test environment, and the type of pattern used by each subject would have remained constant. On the 8-arm radial maze, responses were most often made to arms 2 or 3 from that just visited. In many animals patterns were interchangeable, switching occurring between preferred angles of turn from day to day. Performance fell when animals were tested in darkness and upon ambiguous maze rotation early (but not later) in training. Testing in darkness increased the angle through which animals turned when responding, perhaps due to the disturbance of intramaze cue use. On the 10-arm maze the “consecutive arm” pattern was used persistently by several animals and appeared to protect their performance from disruption by ambiguous maze rotation. Animals not using rigid patterning were adversely affected. However, on both mazes animals using patterning correctly identified maze arms that had been omitted from otherwise patterned choice sequences. Animals adopted continuous patterning only when spatial encoding had been established. Response patterning appears to serve a mnemonic function and in rats complements rather than replaces the use of a spatial representation of the environment. It was concluded that a complex, flexible relationship exists between spatial functioning and its expression via motor responses.     

Insensitivity to stimulus validity in human pavlovian conditioning

Four experiments investigated the role of information value, or stimulus validity, in human electrodermal conditioning. Conditioned stimuli (CSs) were long, variable duration (10-50-sec) slides or sounds, the unconditioned stimulus (US) was shock, and the primary measures were change in tonic skin conductance level and self-report expectancy of shock. In Experiment 1 electrodermal responding to a target stimulus was marginally lower in a blocking group than in a superconditioning group. This difference failed to occur in Experiment 2, despite increased sensitivity of the electrodermal measure. Explicit instructions to pay attention to the relationship between each stimulus and shock improved learning, but did not lead to group differences (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4 expectancy ratings in a blocking group were lower than in an overshadowing group, but no electrodermal differences occurred. The results were interpreted in terms of non-additive learning processes such as occasion-setting, in addition to a general lack of transfer of learning about a stimulus from one context to another (element to compound or vice versa). It was suggested that sensitivity to stimulus validity might be observed if conditioning were embedded in a causally familiar task, as in contingency judgement research.     

Improving calibration without training: the role of task information

Medical students estimated probabilities that medical school applicants selected randomly from a defined population would be offered a place on the basis of information about eight characteristics of each one. Estimates were biased in favour of acceptance and this was unaffected by mere provision of base rate information. However, a first experiment showed that provision of this information reduced miscalibration after each candidate had been discussed within small groups of participants. A second experiment showed beneficial effects of providing people with the range of probability responses derived from a statistical model of how candidates' characteristics influenced whether or not they were offered a place. Numerical and graphical representations of this information both improved calibration but did so by having different effects on the distribution of participants' probability responses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preliminary psychometric properties of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II: a revised measure of psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance

The present research describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a second version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), which assesses the construct referred to as, variously, acceptance, experiential avoidance, and psychological inflexibility. Results from 2,816 participants across six samples indicate the satisfactory structure, reliability, and validity of this measure. For example, the mean alpha coefficient is .84 (.78–.88), and the 3- and 12-month test–retest reliability is .81 and .79, respectively. Results indicate that AAQ-II scores concurrently, longitudinally, and incrementally predict a range of outcomes, from mental health to work absence rates, that are consistent with its underlying theory. The AAQ-II also demonstrates appropriate discriminant validity. The AAQ-II appears to measure the same concept as the AAQ-I (r = .97) but with better psychometric consistency.     

Contextual Influences on Omission Neglect in the Fault Tree Paradigm

Fault trees are used to organize potential causes of a problem to facilitate better judgments about potential problem solutions. However, fault trees can lead to biased judgments because decision makers tend to overestimate the likelihood of problem causes that are explicitly mentioned in the fault tree and underestimate the likelihood of problem causes that are not. In this research, we examined the impact of context information and need for cognitive closure on these estimates. In 2 experiments, participants with a low need for cognitive closure used the informational content of experimenter provided and self‐generated context information as a basis for making likelihood estimates. In contrast, participants with a high need for closure did not use experimenter provided context information at all but used the ease of producing self‐generated context information (rather than informational content) as a basis for their likelihood estimates.     

He's gotta have it: shopping dependence and the homosexual male clothing consumer

Shopping is not always ‘fun’ and is not always ‘therapeutic’, yet, the negative aspects and motivations for this behaviour have received little attention. Consumers often may be dependent upon shopping activity to satisfy personal needs, such as emotional repair and self‐image, which are far removed from the acquisition and use of products. Not only may this dependence be dysfunctional in that it signals an individual's inability to control their shopping behaviour but also it may be symptomatic of more serious problems, such as compulsive and even addictive shopping. This paper explores this shopping dependence in the context of fashion clothing consumption. Male consumers are considered, with sexual orientation employed as an indicator of behaviour. Data from a survey of 225 homosexual and 225 heterosexual UK males suggest that homosexual males display clothes shopping dependence, and at a level that is significantly stronger than for heterosexuals. Younger males show a greater tendency to display such behaviour, with dependence declining with age for both groups. Managerial and research implications are considered. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.