Positive Reactions to Working in Groups in a Study of Group and Individual Goal Decision Making.

The authors explored group members' positive reactions to working in groups that performed a card-sorting task for which they set goals. They also tested predictions regarding observed differences between the goal decisions of groups and individuals for their own and others' performance. Consistent with predictions, group members had more goal commitment, more positive attitudes toward goal attainment, and greater satisfaction with their performance than individuals. Moreover, groups chose goals that were less difficult than the goals of individuals both for their own and for others' performance. The ways in which group decision processes and other factors may account for differences in group and individual goal decisions are considered. In addition, the social-emotional and task-related benefits members perceive of working in their groups are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confidence in Individual and Group Decision Making: When "Two Heads" Are Worse Than One.

The authors investigated students' accuracy and confidence judgments for course-related material in college classrooms. Under conditions of group work and instructor feedback, students produced higher exam accuracy scores working in groups than alone but at a cost of increased confidence for groups' wrong answers. Groups' high confidence for wrong answers generated the case when "two heads are worse than one." Students participating in groups that arrived at wrong exam answers gave higher confidence when wrong and lower confidence when correct for repeated items on a final exam. "Two heads" groups when wrong had no adverse effect on students' accuracy for repeated exam items. An intervention of lecture and readings on confidence calibration, metamemory, and overconfidence did not improve the students' accuracy-confidence judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the Role of Recognition in Decision Making.

In 2 experiments, the authors sought to distinguish between the claim that recognition of an object is treated simply as a cue among others for the purposes of decision making in a cue-learning task from the claim that recognition is attributed a special status with fundamental, noncompensatory properties. Results of both experiments supported the former interpretation. When recognition had a high predictive validity, it was relied on (solely) by the majority of participants; however, when other cues in the environment had higher validity, recognition was ignored, and these other cues were used. The results provide insight into when, where, and why recognition is used in decision making and also question the elevated status assigned to recognition in some frameworks (e.g., D. G. Goldstein & G. Gigerenzer, 2002). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived choice and resistance to persuasion.

An experiment was conducted to test the prediction that the greater the perceived choice in taking a position, the more resistant to influence the position would be. The Ss were shown summaries of an application for admittance to graduate school in psychology, and were asked to rate the candidate. The ratings were made under conditions of either high or low choice. All Ss were then presented with a strong countercommunication and final ratings were made. The results indicate that high choice in the initial decision increased resistance to influence by the countercommunication. It further appears that, at least in this case, this resistance is manifested primarily by an increased tendency to reject the communication and the communicator rather than in any distortions in memory or ratings of the relevant information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Motives and Strategic Misrepresentation in Social Decision Making.

In 4 experiments, the authors studied the influence of social motives on deception and strategic misrepresentation. In a newly developed information provision game, individuals faced a decision maker whose decision would affect both own and other's outcomes. By withholding information or by giving (in)accurate information about payoffs, participants could try to influence other's decision making. Less accurate and more inaccurate information was given when the decision maker was competitive rather than cooperative (Experiment 1), especially when participants had a prosocial rather than selfish value orientation (Experiments 3 and 4). Accurate information was withheld because of fear of exploitation and greed, and inaccurate information was given because of greed (Experiment 2). Finally, participants engaged in strategic misrepresentation that may trick competitive others into damaging their own and increasing the participant's outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Think Different: The Merits of Unconscious Thought in Preference Development and Decision Making.

The role of unconscious and conscious thought in decision making was investigated in 5 experiments. Because of the low processing capacity of consciousness, conscious thought was hypothesized to be maladaptive when making complex decisions. Conversely, unconscious thought was expected to be highly effective. In Experiments 1-3, participants were presented with a complex decision problem in which they had to choose between various alternatives, each with multiple attributes. Some participants had to make a decision immediately after being presented with the options. In the conscious thought condition, participants could think about the decision for a few minutes. In the unconscious thought condition, participants were distracted for a few minutes and then indicated their decision. Throughout the experiments, unconscious thinkers made the best decisions. Additional evidence obtained in Experiments 4 and 5 suggests that unconscious thought leads to clearer, more polarized, and more integrated representations in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group decision and employee participation.

"An experiment was performed to determine whether industrial employees setting their own goals attained higher production output than employees participating in group discussion only. Two pairs of groups simultaneously completed the experimental program. When mean experimental production was compared with mean control production, on an individual basis, it was found that those groups setting their own goals showed significantly greater increases. It is suggested that the group discussion method is a learning process and must be considered as such when plans are being made for application to specific situations." (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)     

多属性决策理论在矿山开采规模中的应用

矿产资源的合理开发与利用直接关系到矿山今后的兴衰,而生产规模又直接影响到矿山建设和生产及其经济效益,因此,矿山开采规模方案的选择对矿山企业来说有着重要而深远的意义.以江西某铜矿为研究对象,结合矿山生产现状,提出了三种生产规模方案,利用理想点法选出了样本矿山1500 t/d生产规模下的最佳开采方案.     

Expertise in Group Problem Solving: Recognition, Social Combination, and Performance.

This laboratory study assessed how recognition of expertise affects group decision making and performance. Three-person groups and independent individuals solved 4 intellective problem-solving tasks in 3 experimental conditions: 4 individual tasks, 1 individual task followed by 2 group tasks followed by 1 individual task, or 1 individual task followed by 2 group tasks (with intragroup rankings) followed by 1 individual task. Findings indicate that (a) both groups with ranking information and groups without are fairly well calibrated with respect to expertise, (b) group decisions were best approximated by "expert-weighted" decision schemes in which the highest performing member of the group has twice the influence of other group members, and (c) groups performed at the level of the best of an equivalent number of individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computer-assisted communication and team decision-making performance: The moderating effect of openness to experience.

This study examined the effects of computer-assisted communication on team decision-making performance as a function of the team's openness to experience. 79 teams performing a multiple-cue probability learning task were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental conditions: (a) verbal communication or (b) computer-assisted communication (which combined verbal and computerized communication). The results indicated that access to computer-assisted communication improved the decision-making performance of teams, but only when the teams were high in openness to experience. This effect was observed using both global openness and more specific openness facets, as well as a variety of team-level aggregation strategies. Moreover, the beneficial effects of openness in computer-assisted conditions were mediated by the efficiency with which teams integrated verbal and computerized forms of communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Jury Decision Making: An Empirical Study Based on Actual Felony Trials.

Posttrial interviewing was used to examine the possible relationship between a variety of juror characteristics and jury decision making. Sixty-five actual jurors who had participated in 10 felony trials served as subjects. An emphasis was placed on process as well as outcome variables. Demographic characteristics were largely unrelated to both procedural and outcome variables. The findings lend support to the view that jurors are highly involved and responsible people who determine guilt or innocence primarily on the basis of factual evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring Differences in Students' Copy-and-Paste Decision Making and Processing: A Mixed-Methods Study.

This mixed-methods study examined cognitive correlates and learning outcomes related to the use of copy and paste (CP). Quantitative results indicated that college students whose CP capability was restricted to a small amount of text as they entered information into a matrix-like tool recalled more facts, recognized more concepts, and inferred more relationships among information from text than students for whom copying and pasting into the matrix was unrestricted. Then, 24 interviews revealed depth of processing and decision-making differences that may account for the discrepancies in learning between the restricted and unrestricted groups. This study suggests that both individuals' differing habits and experimentally induced variations in CP note-taking approaches may have significant differential consequences for cognitive processes and for learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory: Self-Esteem Differences in the Experience and Anticipation of Success.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 90(6) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2007-16792-001). There are typographical errors in Table 2 (certain values should not have been in bold face). The corrected table is provided in the erratum.] Successes--defined broadly as meeting important standards or receiving positive evaluations--are widely assumed to be enjoyed equally by people with high self-esteem (HSEs) and low self-esteem (LSEs). Three studies examined the contradictory hypothesis that HSEs react more favorably to success than do LSEs and that success brings about certain unfavorable consequences for LSEs. Undergraduate participants reacted to a laboratory-manipulated success (Studies 1 and 2) or imagined highly positive events in the future (Study 3). Self-esteem differences emerged in anxiety, thoughts about the self, and (in Study 3) thoughts about non-self-related aspects of the event. LSEs were more anxious than HSEs after succeeding, success improved HSEs' self-relevant thoughts but not LSEs', and LSEs focused more on success's negative aspects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

安钢炼铁仪器分析系统的开发

安钢自建厂以来,铁前分析一直采用湿法分析化学方法,周期长,分析的准确度和精密度难以保证;采用仪器分析及时准确,易操作;安钢在此方面进行了有益的探索并取得了成功,为同类企业铁前分析上水平提供了成熟的经验。     

Taking the easy way out: Preference diversity, decision strategies, and decision refusal in groups.

It has often been argued and found that preference diversity is beneficial for the quality of group decisions. However, this literature has neglected the fact that in many situations, it is also possible not to choose. Further, preference diversity can be based on attractions, aversions, or both. The authors argue that some types of preference diversity can lead to biased discussions and choice refusal (i.e., the group refuses to choose any of the available options). In a laboratory experiment, three different patterns were observed. When group members held different aversions before discussion, discussions were aversion driven and group members quickly agreed to refuse all alternatives. When each alternative had both a proponent and an adversary, discussions were longer and unbiased but still often led to refusal, which was accompanied by relatively low levels of outcome satisfaction. Only when preference diversity was based only on attractions did it lead to unbiased discussion, low prevalence of refusal, and high outcome satisfaction. Implications for group decision making are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Discussion and Group Methods: Theory and Practice.

Reviews the book, Discussion and Group Methods: Theory and Practice by Ernest G. Bormann (see record 1970-06652-000). The author, a Professor at the University of Minnesota, in an attempt to deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of group discussion, has adequately explored the task dimension and the social dimension of small-group communication (discussion). This book is divided into two distinct sections. Part 1, The Techniques of Group Discussion, deals with the know-how of evolving, participating in, and moderating various types of discussions. Part II, Group Methods, is concerned with the small-group theory that is necessary if one is to apply group methods to discussion. The author' obviously wrote this book as a text to be used in university courses dealing primarily with small task-oriented groups. Despite the apparent lack of newness, the book is not just another accumulation of the findings of others. Many of the familiar key concepts dealing with group discussion are given new meaning as they are explained and verified in light of the observations of the author as he conducted the Small Groups Communication Seminar over the last eight years at the University of Minnesota. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group decision making in hidden profile situations: Dissent as a facilitator for decision quality.

The effect of diversity in individual prediscussion preferences on group decision quality was examined in an experiment in which 135 three-person groups worked on a personnel selection case with 4 alternatives. The information distribution among group members constituted a hidden profile (i.e., the correct solution was not identifiable on the basis of the members' individual information and could be detected only by pooling and integrating the members' unique information). Whereas groups with homogeneous suboptimal prediscussion preferences (no dissent) hardly ever solved the hidden profile, solution rates were significantly higher in groups with prediscussion dissent, even if none of these individual prediscussion preferences were correct. If dissent came from a proponent of the correct solution, solution rates were even higher than in dissent groups without such a proponent. The magnitude of dissent (i.e., minority dissent or full diversity of individual preferences) did not affect decision quality. The beneficial effect of dissent on group decision quality was mediated primarily by greater discussion intensity and to some extent also by less discussion bias in dissent groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spiking Phineas Gage: A Neurocomputational Theory of Cognitive-Affective Integration in Decision Making.

The authors present a neurological theory of how cognitive information and emotional information are integrated in the nucleus accumbens during effective decision making. They describe how the nucleus accumbens acts as a gateway to integrate cognitive information from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus with emotional information from the amygdala. The authors have modeled this integration by a network of spiking artificial neurons organized into separate areas and used this computational model to simulate 2 kinds of cognitive-affective integration. The model simulates successful performance by people with normal cognitive-affective integration. The model also simulates the historical case of Phineas Gage as well as subsequent patients whose ability to make decisions became impeded by damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical Decision Making About Psychopathy and Violence Risk Assessment in Public Sector Mental Health Settings.

Although there has been extensive research on psychopathy, it is unknown how, or whether, clinicians in public sector mental health settings consider the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) for assessing violence risk. Mental health clinicians (N = 135) from 4 facilities were interviewed by using multiple methods for collecting data on decision making. Participants considered clinical information most often when assessing violence risk, indicating that these data were most readily available. Clinicians perceived formal testing results (e.g., PCL) to be least available and considered testing least often, especially if clinicians had less clinical experience. Participants did not explicitly report using the PCL but did implicitly rely on psychopathy factors when assessing violence risk. Clinicians in crisis settings reported less availability of historical data typically needed for the PCL. The data point to specific ways to improve the clinical practice of violence risk assessment in public mental health settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)