Tradeoffs and theory: The double-mediation model.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 135(4) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (see record 2006-20327-004). This article was inadvertently printed with the incorrect title. A clarification regarding the correct title is provided in the erratum.] Most theories of decision making suggest that, when options imply tradeoffs between their attributes, conflict increases as tradeoff size increases, because greater sacrifices are to be incurred in choosing one option instead of another. An alternative view is that conflict decreases as tradeoff size increases, because stronger arguments can be made for any decision. The authors propose a unified model, the double-mediation model, which combines the mediating effects of sacrifice and argumentation. Our model generally predicts an inverse U-shaped relation between tradeoff size and conflict. Results support this prediction. Also, when the decision situation increases the mediating effect of sacrifice relative to that of argumentation, the relation between tradeoff size and conflict changes in an upward direction; conversely, when the decision situation increases the mediating effect of argumentation relative to that of sacrifice, the relation changes in a downward direction. Results support these predictions as well. Commonalities and differences between our model and other formulations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aspects of endowment: A query theory of value construction.

How do people judge the monetary value of objects? One clue is provided by the typical endowment study (D. Kahneman, J. L. Knetsch, & R. H. Thaler, 1991), in which participants are randomly given either a good, such as a coffee mug, that they may later sell ("sellers") or a choice between the good and amounts of cash ("choosers"). Sellers typically demand at least twice as much as choosers, inconsistent with economic theory. This result is usually explained by an increased weighting of losses, or loss aversion. The authors provide a memory-based account of endowment, suggesting that people construct values by posing a series of queries whose order differs for sellers and choosers. Because of output interference, these queries retrieve different aspects of the object and the medium of exchange, producing different valuations. The authors show that the content and structure of the recalled aspects differ for selling and choosing and that these aspects predict valuations. Merely altering the order in which queries are posed can eliminate the endowment effect, and changing the order of queries can produce endowment-like effects without ownership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal decision making: The resolution of a dyadic conflict.

"The cooperative resolution of a dyadic conflict was studied as a special case of decision making. Two subjects were required to select a joint decision. The instructions and the task were designed to induce a reasoning set and achievement orientation. The efficiency of the joint decisions was related to the type of choice situation (conflict), the magnitude of individual differences, and the nature and amount of interpersonal influence (interaction). Latency and rationality of choice were the measures of efficiency. Maximal inefficiency was associated with the possibility of gambling, outcomes of loss rather than of gain, moderate individual differences, increasing degrees of verbal interaction, and a weak leader-follower relationship. The dyadic resolution of a decision conflict was conservative in strategy." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GE14A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling the effects of hypoglycemia on a two-choice task in adult humans.

Objective: Previous research has demonstrated that hypoglycemia causes reaction times to be slower and more variable. Reaction time tests, however, use multiple cognitive and noncognitive processes. This study is the first to use a validated sequential sampling model (diffusion model) applied to results obtained from a simple 2-choice task in adult humans to assess the effects of hypoglycemia on the basic parameters of decision making. Method: Fourteen adult volunteers were tested on a numerosity discrimination task with and without reduced blood glucose concentrations. The results were analyzed with a model that dissects the components of processing that underlie decisions: the quality of the information on which a decision is based (drift rate), the critical amount of evidence that must be accumulated before a decision is made (boundary separation), and the time taken by nondecision processes. Results: Hypoglycemia resulted in a reduction of mean drift rate from 0.290 to 0.211, t(13) = 4.10, p     

Political orientation and modern versus aversive racism: Tests of Dovidio and Gaertner's (1998) integrated model.

According to J. F. Dovidio and S. L. Gaertner's (1998) integrated model of racism, politically liberal European Americans tend to express racism differently than conservative European Americans, with liberals demonstrating aversive racism and conservatives, symbolic or modern racism. In support of the model, in Experiment 1 liberals showed bias in favor of a twice-prosecuted African American relative to a European American in their judgment of double jeopardy, whereas conservatives did the reverse. Experiment 2 replicated these effects while eliminating a confound in the design of Experiment 1. Experiment 3 found evidence for the intrapsychic conflict hypothesized to underlie aversive racism. Specifically, only liberals displayed greater physiological arousal to the touch of an African American versus a European American experimenter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The two faces of conscientiousness: Duty and achievement striving in escalation of commitment dilemmas.

The author proposes that 2 facets of conscientiousness, duty and achievement striving, affect decision makers in escalation of commitment dilemmas in opposing ways, thus masking the predictive ability of a broad measure of conscientiousness. It is proposed that duty is associated with an other-centered orientation and that achievement striving is associated with a self-centered orientation. Analyses of decisions from 360 respondents showed that duty was associated with a deescalation of commitment, achievement striving was associated with an escalation of commitment, and the broad measure of conscientiousness was unassociated with commitment. The author advocates the utility of understanding potential self-centered versus other-centered aspects of the criterion of interest when conducting personality-based research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choice by value encoding and value construction: Processes of loss aversion.

Loss aversion and reference dependence are 2 keystones of behavioral theories of choice, but little is known about their underlying cognitive processes. We suggest an additional account for loss aversion that supplements the current account of the value encoding of attributes as gains or losses relative to a reference point, introducing a value construction account. Value construction suggests that loss aversion results from biased evaluations during information search and comparison processes. We develop hypotheses that identify the influence of both accounts and examine process-tracing data for evidence. Our data suggest that loss aversion is the result of the initial direct encoding of losses that leads to the subsequent process of directional comparisons distorting attribute valuations and the final choice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive mediation of alcohol's effects on women's in-the-moment sexual decision making.

Objective: To test a cognitive mediation model examining whether cognitive appraisals mediate alcohol consumption effects on condom request and unprotected sex intentions. Design: Female social drinkers (N = 173) participated in an experiment comparing four beverage conditions: control, placebo, target BAL = .04%, and target BAL = .08%. Subjects projected themselves into a hypothetical sexual encounter with a new sex partner. Measures: Appraisals of the situation's sexual potential, impelling and inhibiting cognitions, and behavioral intentions were assessed at several points. Results: Findings support the theoretical model, indicating that alcohol's effects on direct condom request and unprotected sex intentions were mediated through cognitive appraisals. Conclusion: Prevention interventions should include information about alcohol's effects on cognitions that may lead to ineffective condom negotiation and unprotected sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Principles, principals, and process (P3): A model for play therapy ethics problem solving.

Little has been written about ethical issues faced by those providing play therapy. Play therapists working in a variety of settings need specific guidance on professional ethical issues relating to privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, therapist competence, multiple relationships, and treatment outcome. Basic ethical principles of child psychotherapy are reviewed for application to play therapy. An ethical decision making model, the Principles, Principals, Process Model (P3 Model) is proposed for applying historical ethical principles to clinical situations. Specific clinical examples illustrate the application of the P3 Model for play therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working memory load and decision making: A reply to Franco-Watkins, Pashler, and Rickard (2006).

A. M. Franco-Watkins, H. Pashler, and T. C. Rickard (2006; see record 2006-03562-020) discussed some interesting issues about the interpretation of working memory load effects and decision making in their reanalysis of our previously published data (J. M. Hinson, T. L. Jameson, & P. Whitney, 2003). Nonetheless, there is sufficiently strong evidence to sustain our original conclusion that working memory load affects decision making in the delay discounting paradigm and that these changes can be characterized as more impulsive decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

“Neurally Constrained Modeling of Perceptual Decision Making": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Neurally constrained modeling of perceptual decision making" by Braden A. Purcell, Richard P. Heitz, Jeremiah Y. Cohen, Jeffrey D. Schall, Gordon D. Logan and Thomas J. Palmeri (Psychological Review, 2010[Oct], Vol 117[4], 1113-1143). The presentation of the colors in Figure 3, Panel A was incorrect due to an error in the production process. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-18180-001.) [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 118(1) of Psychological Review (see record 2010-23057-001). Two grant numbers were incorrectly cited in the author note, and one correct grant number was omitted. The author note incorrectly indicated that research was supported by grants RO1-MH55806 and RO1-EY13358. In addition, grant R01-EY08890 should have been listed.] Stochastic accumulator models account for response time in perceptual decision-making tasks by assuming that perceptual evidence accumulates to a threshold. The present investigation mapped the firing rate of frontal eye field (FEF) visual neurons onto perceptual evidence and the firing rate of FEF movement neurons onto evidence accumulation to test alternative models of how evidence is combined in the accumulation process. The models were evaluated on their ability to predict both response time distributions and movement neuron activity observed in monkeys performing a visual search task. Models that assume gating of perceptual evidence to the accumulating units provide the best account of both behavioral and neural data. These results identify discrete stages of processing with anatomically distinct neural populations and rule out several alternative architectures. The results also illustrate the use of neurophysiological data as a model selection tool and establish a novel framework to bridge computational and neural levels of explanation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian dynamics and unethical decision making: High social dominance orientation leaders and high right-wing authoritarianism followers.

When dilemmas require trade-offs between profits and ethics, do leaders high in social dominance orientation (SDO) and followers high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) make decisions that are more unethical than those made by others? This issue was explored in 4 studies with female participants performing managerial role-playing tasks. First, dyads comprising a person who was either low or high in SDO and a person who was either low or high in RWA negotiated for a leadership position. People high in SDO were more likely to obtain leader positions than to obtain follower positions. No other effects were significant. Second, leaders high in SDO partnered with an agreeable (confederate) follower made decisions that were more unethical than those of leaders low in SDO. Third, followers high in RWA were more acquiescent to and supportive of an unethical (confederate) leader than were followers low in RWA. Fourth, high SDO leader-high RWA follower dyads made decisions that were more unethical than those made in role-reversed dyads because leaders had more influence. Implications of these results for conceptualizing SDO, RWA, and authoritarian dynamics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociations between reaction times and temporal order judgments: A diffusion model approach.

A diffusion model for simple reaction time (RT) and temporal order judgment (TOJ) tasks was developed to account for a commonly observed dissociation between these 2 tasks: Most stimulus manipulations (e.g., intensity) have larger effects in RT tasks than in TOJ tasks. The model assumes that a detection criterion determines the level of sensory evidence needed to conclude that a stimulus has been presented. Analysis of the performance that would be achieved with different possible criterion settings revealed that performance was optimal with a lower criterion setting for the TOJ task than for the RT task. In addition, the model predicts that effects of stimulus manipulations should increase with the size of the detection criterion. Thus, the model suggests that commonly observed dissociations between RT and TOJ tasks may simply be due to performance optimization in the face of conflicting task demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impacts on decision making of executives: Probabilities versus outcomes.

The determinants of decision making of executives are of special interest for companies. For a long time choices have been investigated based on theories that assume an equal impact of expected outcomes and expected probabilities (Von Neumann and Morgenstern 1953, Savage 1954, Kahneman and Tversky 1979). The influence of probabilities in decision processes is, however, questioned by a growing body of research (Rottenstreich and Kivetz 2006, Shapira 1995, March and Shapira 1987, 1992). To monitor the information acquisition process of board members and high-ranking executives in the German insurance industry we conducted 51 personal interviews, which included computer-aided simulations. These simulations clearly and objectively support former statements of executives (Shapira 1995) that they focus more on the amount of decision outcomes than on the corresponding probabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Countering the Negative Effects of Job Insecurity Through Participative Decision Making: Lessons From the Demand-Control Model.

This study examined the effectiveness of increased organizational participative decision making in attenuating the negative consequences of job insecurity. Data were collected from 807 employees in 6 different companies. Analyses suggest that job insecurity is related to lower coworker, work, and supervisor satisfaction and higher turnover intentions and work withdrawal behaviors. However, employees with greater participative decision-making opportunities reported fewer negative consequences of job insecurity compared with employees with fewer participative decision-making opportunities. Results are interpreted using the demand-control model and suggest that organizations that allow greater employee participative decision making may experience fewer negative side effects from today's rising levels of employee job insecurity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of a patient decision aid on decisional conflict related to PSA testing: A structural equation model.

Objective: To examine the impact of a decision aid (DA) designed to promote informed decision making for screening with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and to test a theoretical model of factors influencing decisional conflict. Design: Structural equation modeling examined pathways between DA exposure, knowledge, schema, prostate cancer risk perceptions, decisional anxiety, and decisional conflict. Sample participants included 200 men from the general population (exclusive of African Americans) and 200 African American men. Half of the men in each subsample were randomly assigned to receive the DA. Main Outcome Measures: Decisional conflict regarding prostate cancer screening. Results: The DA influences level of decisional conflict by increasing patient knowledge. This effect of knowledge on decisional conflict is indirect, however, through an association with greater perceived risk and lower decisional anxiety. Also, positive PSA schema was associated with lower decisional anxiety and decisional conflict. It is important that exposure to the DA had no impact on PSA schema. Conclusion: Schemas about testing must be considered in developing messages about the risks and benefits of testing. If schemas are counter to message content, mechanisms for modifying schemas must be incorporated into interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

To achieve or not to achieve: A self-regulation perspective on adolescents' academic decision making.

In 2 studies, the authors investigated the utility of the self-regulation model of decision making for explaining and predicting adolescents' academic decision making. Participants were mostly 9th and 11th graders. The 1st study consisted of all boys, and a 2nd similar study consisted of boys and girls. Measures included a newly developed assessment of decision-making skill (the Decision-Making-Competency Inventory), select scales of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-High School Version, an assessment of the importance of academic goals, and teacher ratings of achievement behavior. Adolescents' valuing of academic goals and their decision-making competency were typically the best predictors of their achievement behavior. Older adolescent boys did not affirm achievement striving compared with younger adolescent boys and older adolescent girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of monological and dialogical argumentation on concept learning in evolutionary theory.

In this study, the effects of argumentation-eliciting interventions on conceptual understanding in evolution were investigated. Two experiments were conducted: In the 1st, 76 undergraduates were randomly assigned to dyads to collaboratively solve and answer items on evolution; half of them were instructed to conduct an argumentative discussion, whereas control dyads were only asked to collaborate. In the 2nd experiment, 42 singletons participated in 1 of 2 conditions: Experimental students engaged in monological argumentation on their own solution and a confederate's solution in response to prompts read by the confederate, whereas in the control condition they merely shared their solutions. Conceptual gains were assessed on immediate and delayed posttests. In both experiments, students in the argumentative conditions showed larger learning gains on the delayed posttest than control students. Students in argumentative conditions were able to preserve gains that were obtained immediately following the intervention, whereas control participants either lost immediate gains (dialogical condition) or did not improve their conceptual understanding at any time (monological condition). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamics of attentional selection under conflict: Toward a rational Bayesian account.

The brain exhibits remarkable facility in exerting attentional control in most circumstances, but it also suffers apparent limitations in others. The authors’ goal is to construct a rational account for why attentional control appears suboptimal under conditions of conflict and what this implies about the underlying computational principles. The formal framework used is based on Bayesian probability theory, which provides a convenient language for delineating the rationale and dynamics of attentional selection. The authors illustrate these issues with the Eriksen flanker task, a classical paradigm that explores the effects of competing sensory inputs on response tendencies. The authors show how 2 distinctly formulated models, based on compatibility bias and spatial uncertainty principles, can account for the behavioral data. They also suggest novel experiments that may differentiate these models. In addition, they elaborate a simplified model that approximates optimal computation and may map more directly onto the underlying neural machinery. This approximate model uses conflict monitoring, putatively mediated by the anterior cingulate cortex, as a proxy for compatibility representation. The authors also consider how this conflict information might be disseminated and used to control processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision quality (always) increases with the size of information samples—provided that the decision rule is statistically valid: Comment on Fiedler and Kareev (2006).

Fiedler and Kareev (2006) showed that small samples can, in principle, outperform large samples in terms of the quality of contingency-based binary choice. The 1st part of this comment critically examines these authors' claim that this small sample advantage (SSA) contradicts Bernoulli's law of large numbers and concludes that this claim is unwarranted. The 2nd part of the comment provides insight into the etiology of the SSA and points to the following as necessary conditions for the SSA's occurrence: (a) the statistical invalidity of the underlying threshold-based decision algorithm and (b) the particular payoff scheme underlying the definition of the decisions' quality. Together, these 2 factors explain how better information provided by larger samples is translated into worse decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)