Ambivalence and decisional conflict as a cause of psychological discomfort: Feeling tense before jumping off the fence

It has long been assumed that people experience evaluative conflict or ambivalence as unpleasant. In three studies we provide direct evidence for the assumption that ambivalence is unpleasant, but only when one has to commit to one side of the issue. In those situations ambivalence will be related to outcome uncertainty and feelings of discomfort. We examined this prediction using both self-reports and physiological measures. In a first study we manipulated ambivalence and whether or not participants had to take a clear stand vis-a vis the attitudinal issue and choose a position for or against it. Results indicate ambivalence was only related to physiological arousal when a choice had to be made. Feeling ambivalent about an issue without the necessity to choose did not result in higher levels of arousal. A second study replicated and extended these findings by including a measure of subjective uncertainty about the decision. Results showed the same pattern as in Study 1, and indicate that the relation between ambivalence and arousal is mediated by uncertainty about decisional outcomes. In the third and final study these findings are corroborated using self-report measures; these indicated that ambivalence-induced discomfort is related to specific (negative) emotions.     

Rankings,standards, and competition: Task vs. scale comparisons

Research showing how upward social comparison breeds competitive behavior has so far conflated local comparisons in task performance (e.g. a test score) with comparisons on a more general scale (i.e. an underlying skill). Using a ranking methodology ( Garcia, Tor, & Gonzalez, 2006) to separate task and scale comparisons, Studies 1–2 reveal that an upward comparison on the scale (e.g. being surpassed in rank), rather than in the mere task (e.g., being outperformed), is necessary to generate competition among rivals proximate to a standard (e.g. ranked #3 vs. 4, near “the top”); rivals far from a standard (e.g. ranked #203 vs. 204), on the other hand, still tend to cooperate. Study 3 illustrates this finding with player trades in Major League Baseball. Study 4 further shows how an implicit scale comparison, instead of the commonly assumed explicit task comparison, may account for those classical competition findings in the literature. Study 5 then reveals how scale ranking becomes all important in the proximity of a standard, leading rivals to tolerate even an upward scale comparison to increase their proximity to the standard. Implications for the increasingly popular “forced ranking” management systems (e.g., at General Electric) are also discussed.     

Beliefs underlying modal choice in school trips: A case study in Brazil

Various factors can influence the choice of transportation mode such as the urban layout, land use and occupation patterns, and the services offer. In recent years, however, research studies have investigated the influence of psychological aspects on personal decision-making associated to modal choice, thereby contributing towards the elaboration of more sustainable public policies. This study investigates the beliefs that are subjacent to modal choices regarding school commute trips, based on the opinions of students attending a senior high school institution in Brasilia, Brazil. Using procedures suggested by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) a set of beliefs was obtained by means of a focus group activity and used to support the elaboration of a School Trips Modal Choice Scale (STMCS). The scale was subjected to Principal Components Analysis to verify the consistency of factors related to the beliefs and the direct measurements of the TPB constructs. Following that Generalized Linear Models (GLM) were elaborated using the Quasi-likelihood estimation method to investigate the correlation between the beliefs obtained and the said constructs. In addition to identifying the principal beliefs related to the modal choice, the results showed that different TPB constructs can be correlated with the same belief and so attributing specific beliefs to each construct based on an initial intuitive classification can actually be an impediment to understanding them. Those findings regarding the beliefs identified as subjacent to each construct are specific for the school community that was studied. However the question of some beliefs significantly affecting more than one construct is a more generalizable and corroborates what has previously been verified in other contexts where TPB has been applied.     

Multiple-criteria decision aid: Some epistemological considerations

This paper attempts to analyse in a critical way some essential aspects of the multiple-criteria decision aid (MCDA) methodology using modern epistemological instruments. Particular attention is paid to the problem of information precision and uncertainty and to the distinction considered essential between the concepts of choice and decision. Since it is maintained that the respect of subjectivity in decision aid is of fundamental importance, an analysis follows of the main approaches by which MCDA methods attempt to take the subjective component of the decision maker into account, indicating some characteristics which may be desirable in an MCDA model for this purpose.     

Choice functions in multistage optimization

This paper is devoted to the multistage optimization problem with a vector-valued gain function. The notion of optimality is determined here by the choice function. The conditions for the choice function that guarantee the applicability and efficiency of dynamic programming are found.     

Young children's ability to solve spatial problems involving a choice

When do young children become able to make an adequate choice between two alternatives based on spatial information? Children of 20, 30, and 40 months of age were either presented with two objects with different cross-sections and one aperture, or one object and two different apertures. In each trial there was one object – aperture match and the task was to find that match and insert the object. All the children understood the task and tried to solve the problems but the 20-month-olds performed randomly and not even the 40-month-olds chose all the correct correspondences consistently. The results also showed that it is easier to choose between apertures than objects. This contrasts with the ability to solve the insertion problem once the choice was made. When choosing the correct object or aperture, the 40-month-olds inserted the triangle successfully in 85% of the cases. The boys and girls were equally good at solving the task, but the boys did it faster. The results show that making a choice adds significantly to the difficulty of solving spatial problems. It requires systematic examination of the objects and apertures involved, a working memory that can handle at least three items at a time, and an ability to inhibit an incorrect choice. Such executive functions are typically found in older preschool children but the present task shows that with an appropriate setup their development can be traced from a much earlier age.     

The role of working memory in information acquisition and decision making: Lessons from the binary prediction task

The effects of memory constraints upon information acquisition and decision making were examined in two experiments using binary prediction tasks, where participants observe outcomes for two options before deciding which one to bet upon. Our studies extend previous investigations to the case where participants learn the structure of the task through observation, but where information acquisition is separated from the task of prediction. Participants with higher cognitive capacity (larger memory span or higher intelligence) were more likely to adopt the “maximizing” strategy (always selecting the more frequent alternative). This finding conflicts with some recent investigations of similar tasks, a contrast that implies that the presence of feedback on choices may be important in determining the strategic actions of high-capacity individuals. Participants selecting the optimal strategy were in turn more efficient in their data acquisition. The behaviour of participants adopting suboptimal choice strategies was consistent with prediction based upon a “narrow window of experience”—that is, seeking to match the characteristics of small samples of observations.     

The latent structure of decision styles

Responding to calls for theoretical development in research on decision styles, this article focuses on their structural relationships. A two-component model of decision styles is proposed. One component, pertaining to dual process theories of thinking, is concerned with the processes people use to make decisions, and the other is concerned with processes used to regulate decisions (e.g. whether they should be made immediately or delayed). The results of a first study (N = 629) using items from a comprehensive decision style measure (the Decision Styles Questionnaire), support the two-component model. The results of a second study (N = 305), based on an alternative set of style measures, provide support for an extended version of the model. Implications of the theory and research findings for future work on decision styles are discussed.