Developing a Taxonomy of Decision Modes

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract *** 000079664 (proposal number) Elke Weber Recent work in decision making has expanded the notion of how people make decisions. Many researchers now look beyond the rational choice framework used by economists or the cognitive information integration framework traditionally used by psychologists. With the expansion of the traditional notion of decision-making as a cost-benefit analysis, researchers are finding that decision makers act in a variety of ways that cannot be described in terms of costs and benefits (Beach & Mitchell, 1990; Gigerenzer, Todd, & Group, 1999; Hammond, 1996; Klein, 1998; Yates & Lee, 1996). In some cases, these alternative decision-making modes are even designed to prevent cost-benefit calculations (March, 1994; Prelec & Hernstein, 1991). Yates and Lee (1996) coined the term decision modes to describe qualitatively different strategies for arriving at a decision. Given the new plurality of views on the ways that people make decisions, it is time to take a look at the bigger picture and to carefully examine the range of decision modes that people use. In the current climate of decision making research, the careful development of a taxonomy of decision modes will be an important contribution to the field. A central objective of the proposed research is to develop a comprehensive taxonomy of decision modes and a common vocabulary that can be used to identify and distinguish decision making processes that fall within each mode. The proposed taxonomy includes four decision modes, i.e., cost-benefit-based, recognition-based, affect-based, and reason-based. Each mode is characterized in terms of its attentional focus, primary cognitive and affective processes, and mental representations. The further development of this decision mode taxonomy will involve more precisely characterizing the distinguishing attributes of different decision modes and developing experimental procedures able to demonstrate more unequivocally the existence of these qualitatively different modes. A second objective is to establish a better understanding of the factors that determine when a particular mode will be used and why. This requires the development of a model of implicit decision mode selection that is directly related to the decision mode taxonomy. Which decision mode is used in a given situation is hypothesized to depend both on person-centered factors (i.e., cognitive and affective processes) and on situational factors. Identifying and characterizing the factors that influence decision mode selection will be important not only because it is theoretically interesting to better understand the decision making process, but also because the selection of one or the other decision mode is hypothesized to influence the final decision outcome. The proposed research has the potential to integrate existing knowledge about human motivation, the nature and function of cognitive and affective processes, and mental representation into an adaptive decision making framework. The proposed framework is far broader than its precursors in both its specification of the criteria on which people are trying to optimize and its specification of the strategies and processes at people's disposal. Such a framework has the potential to guide and focus new research in the field.