Thinking too much: Introspection can reduce the quality of preferences and decisions (original) (raw)
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Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2004
During the course of their lives, people are faced with many decisions-covering a wide variety of contexts and ranging in importance. Common decision-making topics include career moves, whether to get married (and, if so, to whom and when), what house to rent (or buy), where to shop for groceries and what to have for dinner. The need for making a good decision grows as the importance of the context increases. Unfortunately, it is often not obvious what constitutes a good decision. At the bottom line, the question of decision quality is the essence of decision sciences: a main goal of researchers in the discipline is to help improve people's decision making. Yet, with few exceptions (e.g.,
Supporting Online Material On Making the Right Choice: The Deliberation-Without-Attention Effect
Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not always advantageous to engage in thorough conscious deliberation before choosing. On the basis of recent insights into the characteristics of conscious and unconscious thought, we tested the hypothesis that simple choices (such as between different towels or different sets of oven mitts) indeed produce better results after conscious thought, but that choices in complex matters (such as between different houses or different cars) should be left to unconscious thought. Named the ''deliberation-without-attention'' hypothesis, it was confirmed in four studies on consumer choice, both in the laboratory as well as among actual shoppers, that purchases of complex products were viewed more favorably when decisions had been made in the absence of attentive deliberation.
Decision Making - Interest and Effort.
NACADA Clearinghouse, 2013
Background The importance of decision-making in the advising process is well document. Gordon (2007) noted that when working with all students, but particularly with undecided students, it is a critical conceptual component along with self-assessment, educational information and career. Many definitions and institutional mission statements for academic advising highlight decision-making's centrality to conducting advising. In this regard, attention to both cognitive and affective decision-making skills and issues have been addressed. The relationship of decision-making to students' interests and efforts has not been received as much attention. This article will offer a brief explanation on why the relationship of interest and effort to reflective thinking is important for advisors to recognize by drawing on the works of John Dewey.
A Perspective on Judgment and Choice
Early studies of intuitive judgment and decision making conducted with the late Amos Tversky are reviewed in the context of two related concepts: an analysis of accessibility, the ease with which thoughts come to mind; a distinction between effortless intuition and deliberate reasoning. Intuitive thoughts, like percepts, are highly accessible. Determinants and consequences of accessibility help explain the central results of prospect theory, framing effects, the heuristic process of attribute substitution, and the characteristic biases that result from the substitution of nonextensional for extensional attributes. Variations in the accessibility of rules explain the occasional corrections of intuitive judgments. The study of biases is compatible with a view of intuitive thinking and decision making as generally skilled and successful.
Looking and Weighting in Judgment and Choice
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 1997
in which information is masked on a computer screen A sampling model was proposed in which the weight and uncovered by moving a cursor into the masked given to a piece of information corresponds to the area. The data record includes the option chosen or amount of sampling of that information in either a conjudgment rendered, the sequence of information actinuous, discrete or strategic manner. These three samcessed, and the amount of time looking at information. pling processes were related to process tracing mea-A major goal of process tracing studies has been to sures of initial and additional time per acquisition and understand the different strategies that decision makfrequency of acquisition. The applicability of the samers use in choosing an option. Strategies differ in (a) pling model was tested in three experiments in which
DECISION MAKING STYLES AND STUDY ORIENTATION
The present study is an attempt to study the relationship of Study Orientation (Study Habits and Attitudes) with decision making styles among higher secondary students. Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA) developed by Brown and Holtzman (1967) and Flinders Decision Making Questionnaires I and II (DMQ-I and DMQ-II) developed by Mann (1982) were used to collect data. As large as 148 Higher Secondary Students pursuing the first year study of Higher Secondary Course (HSC) participated in this study. There were 75 males and 73 females. Results reveal that there is significant positive correlation between study orientation and decision self-esteem of students. Also, there is significant association between studentss study orientation and their decision making styles. This association is reflected only in non-vigilant decisions but not in vigilant decisions. Gender effect in Study Orientation was observed favouring female students. Demographic variables like, course of study (arts/science), family income, number of family members, birth order and their residence do not have any effect on their study orientation. The results are interpreted in terms of the role of schools in teaching good study habits to students thereby enhancing their decision self-esteem and reducing their defensive avoidance, buck passing and procrastinating tendencies.
Thinking about decisions: An integrative approach of person and task factors
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Decisions vary. They vary in both content and complexity. People also vary. An important way that people vary is how much they think about a decision. Some prior research investigating thinking and decision making largely conflicts with most traditional decision theories. For example, if considering an array of products to choose from, thinking more about the different alternative's attributes should lead to a better decision. However, some research indicates that it may also lead to more focus on irrelevant aspects of the decision situation. We propose that this conflict exists because of a failure to consider the interaction between the individual and the decision task. To test this, we used separate methodologies that enhance or attenuate a person's thinking. In Study 1 we selected people who were especially high or low in need for cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) and had them complete a robust decision-making inventory, which included both complex and simple tasks. In Study 2 we manipulated participant's level of glucose, which acts as the brain's fuel to enhance or attenuate thinking ability. Both studies support the view that more thought leads to better decisions in complex tasks but does not influence simple decisions, including those that are valence based. These findings show how the individual's thinking interacts with the constructive elements of the task to shape decision choice.
Real-Life Decision Making in College Students I: Consistency Across Specific Decisions
First-year undergraduates participated in a short-term longitudinal study of real-life decision making over their first 14 months of college. They were surveyed about 7 different decisions: choosing courses for an upcoming term (3 different terms), choosing an academic major (twice), planning for the upcoming summer, and planning for sophomore-year housing. Participants showed moderate levels of consistency in the options they considered and in the criteria they used to decide between options, with about half of the options or criteria being used at 2 different points on the decision repeatedly studied. Participants varied somewhat in structural consistency, the tendency to consider the same number of options or criteria across decisions. They also varied in the way they integrated information across decision-making tasks. we suggest that people attempt to keep the information demands of the task within workable limits, sometimes sacrificing consistency as a result.