Rethinking the focusing effect in decision-making

According to Legrenzi et al. [Cognition 49 (1993) 37], in making a choice people consider only the alternatives explicitly represented in their mental model of the decision situation. Their idea has found empirical support in the "focusing effect": Individuals focus on the alternatives explicitly stated in the problem context, and do not take into account other possibilities. In their original study, Legrenzi and colleagues considered only one factor to account for the explicit representation of an alternative--i.e., its explicit verbal formulation in the decision problem. Recent theories of relevance and information gain can help articulate their original idea, suggesting that individuals explicitly represent relevant alternatives, whether or not they are explicitly formulated in the decision problem. In three experiments we first replicated Legrenzi et al.'s original experiment, and then showed that the explicit verbal mention of an alternative is neither sufficient nor necessary to focus on it. The results suggest that individuals are able to consider relevant alternatives, even when they are not made explicit in the verbal formulation of a decision problem.     

Visual effects in picture and word categorization

Two experiments are reported in which participants categorized stimuli as belonging or not belonging to the category of fruits. Blocks of pictures and words were used, with items referring to exemplars having either high or low intercategory visual similarity and/or semantic relatedness. For both pictures and words, response time was longer in the semantically related conditions than in the unrelated condition. Furthermore, there was a strong effect of visual similarity for pictures but not for words when semantic relatedness was held constant: Participants took longer to classify pictures of fruits when these were mixed with visually similar vegetables than when they were mixed with visually dissimilar vegetables. Reducing the stimulus visibility by adding a dot pattern had an additive effect for words but an interactive effect for pictures. The results are explained in terms of a unique locus for category decisions about pictures and words.     

Framing the Ultimatum Game: Gender differences and autonomic responses

The present study aimed at investigating whether the way offers are framed in the Ultimatum Game (UG) affects behavioral and autonomic responses in men and women. The “I give you” and “I take” expressions were used as gain and loss frames, respectively. Skin conductance and heart rate were recorded as indices of autonomic activation in response to unfair, mid‐value, and fair offers. Acceptance rates were higher in men than in women under the gain frame. Moreover, men showed higher acceptance rates under the gain than under the loss frame with mid‐value offers, whereas women's choices were not affected by frame. On the physiological level, men produced differential autonomic response patterns during decision‐making when offers were presented under gain and loss framing. The “I take” frame, by acting as a loss frame, elicited in men the characteristic defensive response pattern that is evoked by aversive stimulation, in which increases in skin conductance are coupled with increases in heart rate. On the other hand, the “I give you” frame, by acting as a gain frame, elicited in men increases in skin conductance associated with prevailing heart rate deceleratory responses, reflecting a state of enhanced attention and orienting. In contrast, women's autonomic reactivity was not affected by frame, consistent with behavioral results. Phasic changes in heart rate were crucial in revealing differential functional significance of skin conductance responses under different frames in men, thus questioning the assumption that this autonomic measure can be used as an index of negative emotional arousal in the UG.     

Levels of representation in word processing

Abstract

Four experiments are described examining the effects of words frequency, orthographic structure, and letter spacing on a range of tasks designed to tap different levels of representation in word processing. In Experiment 1, the task was lexical decision. Effects of both frequency (high-frequency words were recognized faster than low-frequency words) and orthographic regularity (illegal non-words were rejected faster than legal non-words) were found. In Experiment 2 subjects had to detect a rotated letter within the letter strings. Effects of orthographic structure emerged, with a marked disadvantage for illegal non-words with respect to the other types of string. No difference was found among high-frequency words, lowfrequency words and legal non-words. In Experiment 3, subjects had to detect a letter elevated above the horizontal plan with respect to the rest of the string. Effects of both spatial arrangement of letters and number of letters were found (spaced strings were responded to less accurately than non-spaced strings and seven-letter extra-spaced strings were responded to slower than the other strings). Neither lexical nor orthograpic variables affected this task. In Experiment 4 subjects had to detect the presence of a bold segment contained in one of the letters in the strings. Performance was unaffected by both lexical and spatial variables. The pattern of results is discussed with reference to a multi-stage model of word recognition in which lexical and spatial variables affect processing at different stages. At a feature map level, in which features are extracted from the discontinuities of light intensities, processing is independent of both spatial and lexical factors. At a letter-shape map level, in which spatial relationships between features are coded, spacing between letters affects encoding. At a graphemic map level, in which letter identities and their relative positions within strings are coded, orthographic variables have an effect. Lexicality and frequency affect only subsequent stages of processing, when stored lexical information is retrieved (e.g. for lexical decision).     

Improving Attitudes Toward Prostate Examinations by Loss-Framed Appeals

One of the main causes of late diagnoses in prostate cancer is the aversive attitude toward prostate examinations. In this study, we analyze the efficacy of an informative pamphlet in changing that attitude. A randomized sample of north Italian men was given different versions of an informative pamphlet, obtained by systematically manipulating the message framing and emotional vividness. After reading the pamphlet, each participant completed an attitude questionnaire. Levels of anxiety and self-reported health status were measured using the STAI-X2 and the SF-36 questionnaires. Results show that loss-framed messages (i.e., messages highlighting the negative consequences of not doing the examinations) had a significant positive effect on attitudes toward the prostate screening, but the effect was rather small.     

Acceptance of a price discount: the role of the semantic relatedness between purchases and the comparative price format

Two studies are reported where people are asked to accept or not a price reduction on a target product. In the high (low) relative saving version, the regular price of the target product is low (high). In both versions, the absolute value of the price reduction is the same as well as the total of regular prices of planned purchases. As first reported by Tversky and Kahneman ( 1981 ), findings show that the majority of people accept the price discount in the high‐relative saving version whereas the minority do it in the low one. In Study 1, findings show that the previous preference reversal disappears when planned purchases are strongly related. Also, a previously unreported preference reversal is found. The majority of people accept the price discount when the products are weakly related whereas the minority accept when the products are strongly related. In Study 2, findings show that the classic preference reversal disappears as a function of the comparative price format. Also, another previously unreported preference reversal is found. When the offered price reduction relates to a low‐priced product, people are more inclined to accept it with a control than a minimal comparative price format. Findings reported in Studies 1 and 2 are interpreted in terms of mental accounting shifts. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contingent application of the cancellation editing operation: the role of semantic relatedness between risky outcomes

This article presents findings on the restructuring component of the decision process. Two experiments are described employing hypothetical vacation choice dilemmas. The aim was to explore the conditions under which outcomes common to two risky prospects with the same probabilities of occurrence are or are not cancelled and how consequent decisions are influenced. The design of the options presented to participants was based on pilot work to establish appropriate contexts. The key independent variable was the semantic relatedness between outcomes of the same risky prospect. The main finding was that the participants did not cancel the outcome shared by two prospects when it was semantically related to another outcome within the same prospect. In this case, the prospect with greater risk was chosen significantly more frequently in comparison to when the common outcome was unrelated to other outcomes. An interpretation of the findings is presented in terms of contingent editing processes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of task requirements on the processing of complex stimuli

In the present study the effects of task requirements were investigated using a same-different paradigm with geometric configurations as stimuli. Two conditions were employed: in the first, the instructions required the subjects to focus upon all dimensions of the stimuli; in the second, instead, the instructions required the subjects to attend only to some of the dimensions. The results show that in the first condition the subjects, in order to reach their decision, used a template- matching strategy, while in the second condition an analytic strategy was employed.