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Boundary conditions on unconscious thought in complex decision making
John W Payne1, Adriana Samper, James R Bettman
1Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0120, USA. jpayne@duke.edu
Psychological Science
|December 17, 2008
Summary
Delegating complex decisions to the unconscious mind may not always be optimal. Self-paced conscious thought outperforms unconscious thought when attribute magnitudes are crucial for complex choices.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- The delegation of complex decision-making to the unconscious mind is a debated topic.
- Previous research suggests unconscious thought can be advantageous for certain complex choices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the conditions under which unconscious thought is beneficial for complex decision-making.
- To compare the effectiveness of self-paced conscious thought, fixed-interval conscious thought, and unconscious thought across different decision environments.
Main Methods:
- Participants engaged in complex choice tasks under varying conditions.
- Decision environments were manipulated to emphasize either the number of positive outcomes or attribute magnitudes.
- Performance was measured by the accuracy in identifying the optimal choice.
Main Results:
- In environments prioritizing the number of positive outcomes, self-paced conscious thought and unconscious thought showed similar advantages over fixed-interval conscious thought.
- In environments where attribute magnitudes were critical, self-paced conscious thought significantly outperformed unconscious thought.
Conclusions:
- The effectiveness of unconscious versus conscious thought in complex decision-making is contingent on task demands.
- Decision environments requiring careful consideration of attribute magnitudes favor self-paced conscious thought over unconscious processing.
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