Aiding Lay Decision Making Using a Cognitive Competencies Approach

Area of Science:

• Decision-making science
• Cognitive psychology
• Behavioral economics

Background:

• Two main approaches, just-in-time and just-in-case interventions, support human decision-making.
• These interventions aid in everyday choices like selecting housing, financial products, or medical procedures.
• Current interventions lack a strong theoretical foundation, limiting their development and evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing research on just-in-time and just-in-case decision-making interventions.
• To argue for the need for an underlying prescriptive theory in decision aid development.
• To propose a new framework for interpreting and evaluating decision support interventions based on cognitive competencies.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of prescriptive decision-making interventions.
• Analysis of descriptive research on cognitive competencies in decision-making.
• Theoretical synthesis to propose a new approach for intervention development and evaluation.

Main Results:

• The lack of a prescriptive theory hinders the effectiveness and evaluation of current decision aids.
• Descriptive research on cognitive competencies offers new insights into how decision aids work.
• A new approach can improve the development and evaluation of interventions for everyday decisions.

Conclusions:

• Integrating cognitive competencies into intervention design can enhance decision support.
• A theory-driven approach is crucial for developing and evaluating effective decision aids.
• Future interventions can be more impactful by leveraging insights from descriptive cognitive research.