SHAPE-assisted intuitive decision making and problem solving: Information-processing-based training for conditions of cognitive busyness.

The present study tested the usefulness of a normative model of decision making designed for individuals and teams that emphasized 5 processes needed in cognitively busy decision situations: scrutinize symptoms, hypothesize solutions, analyze proposed solutions, perform modifications and corrections, and evaluate results (SHAPE). All teams (102) were trained in task skills and practiced solving problems before the experimental decision-making situation, a cognitively busy computer-simulated decision situation. Half of the teams were trained in the SHAPE algorithm. Half of the teams received no decision-making training (the intuition condition). Results indicate that SHAPE-assisted intuitive decision making is faster and more accurate than unassisted intuitive decision making. Furthermore, SHAPE-trained teams experienced lower levels of stress, maintained better task performance, and performed more synchronously than teams receiving no decision-making training. Preliminary evidence that SHAPE creates a shared metacognitive strategy is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On making social research relevant to public policy and national problem solving.

Suggests how social research can become more relevant to governmental efforts to resolve national problems, E.g., poverty. A major function of the research would be to make explicit the goals and beliefs of the several systems donor, delivery, and recipient comprising any national government effort. Data are offered on 1 national effort to train welfare recipients for jobs. Misperceptions between members of the delivery and recipient systems are examined. It is suggested that significant policy research requires (a) a broader framework than usually adopted by a scientific discipline; (b) continuity in the gathering of field data; and (c) a new institutional base that allows scientists and administrators to cooperate in research and policy efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group process and performance: Interpersonal behaviors and decision quality in group problem solving by consensus.

A correlational study examined group performance of a problem-solving task that required consensus in relation to 3 interpersonal behaviors: discussing strategy, inviting input, and asking or summarizing agreement. Participants did a simulated survival task individually and then worked toward consensus in 54 mixed-gender groups of 4 to 6. Group error scores indicated decision quality. Videotaped sessions were scored for observed behaviors. Rate of asking about or summarizing agreement correlated positively with group error. The same behaviors unexpectedly correlated with completion times, which correlated inversely with group error: Faster groups made more errors. Other behaviors were unrelated to group decision quality or completion time. Rate of discussing strategy declined over time; inviting input stayed stable; and rate of asking or summarizing agreement increased. Temporal trends were unrelated to performance. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immediate implants: indications and clinical decision making

This paper is intended to describe the current concepts in timing of implant placement, and to address some of the controversies surrounding implants and bone grafting.     

Democracy under uncertainty: The wisdom of crowds and the free-rider problem in group decision making.

We introduce a game theory model of individual decisions to cooperate by contributing personal resources to group decisions versus by free riding on the contributions of other members. In contrast to most public-goods games that assume group returns are linear in individual contributions, the present model assumes decreasing marginal group production as a function of aggregate individual contributions. This diminishing marginal returns assumption is more realistic and generates starkly different predictions compared to the linear model. One important implication is that, under most conditions, there exist equilibria where some, but not all, members of a group contribute, even with completely self-interested motives. An agent-based simulation confirmed the individual and group advantages of the equilibria in which behavioral asymmetry emerges from a game structure that is a priori perfectly symmetric for all agents (all agents have the same payoff function and action space but take different actions in equilibria). A behavioral experiment demonstrated that cooperators and free riders coexist in a stable manner in groups performing with the nonlinear production function. A collateral result demonstrated that, compared to a dictatorial decision scheme guided by the best member in a group, the majority/plurality decision rules can pool information effectively and produce greater individual net welfare at equilibrium, even if free riding is not sanctioned. This is an original proof that cooperation in ad hoc decision-making groups can be understood in terms of self-interested motivations and that, despite the free-rider problem, majority/plurality decision rules can function robustly as simple, efficient social decision heuristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The problem with problem solving

PURPOSE: We conducted a prospective study of patients with primary pterygia to analyze surgically-induced astigmatic changes following pterygium surgery and their relation to pterygium morphology and size. METHODS: One hundred twenty-three eyes of 123 adult patients with primary pterygia were evaluated. Pterygium was graded according to morphology and the extent of corneal encroachment. Manifest refraction was performed preoperatively and at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively. Patients underwent either the bare sclera technique of pterygium excision or conjunctival grafting. Surgery was performed by one surgeon. Olsen's method of vector decomposition was used to analyze surgically-induced astigmatism. RESULTS: The mean magnitude of preoperative astigmatism was 0.99 D, with vector decomposition revealing a relative flattening of the cornea in the horizontal meridian. Astigmatism of 1.00 D or more was seen when the pterygium exceeded 3.5 mm beyond the limbus. Postoperatively, a steepening of the cornea in the horizontal meridian was demonstrated, the magnitude of which was related to pterygium size (P = 0.0001). ANOVA testing showed no significant difference (P > 0.05) when pterygia were divided according to morphology. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that pterygium excision induces a reversal of pterygium-related corneal flattening. A strong correlation was also found between the horizontal extent of pterygium encroachment and astigmatic change following surgery.     

Program evaluation: resource for decision making

Formal program evaluation is an important resource for health care decision making. It is necessary in situations where traditional organizational evaluative capabilities an no longer meet the requirements of the job at hand.     

Observer variation and clinical decision making

The effects of nutritional regime on the colonic absorption of electrolytes, water, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) were studied in three rodent species (voles, spiny mice, and laboratory mice) differing in their ecological background. The effects of different levels of SCFA, induced by restriction of food intake, on the capacity of the in situ perfused colon to absorb water and electrolytes was studied. In addition, in vitro experiments were carried out to assess the mechanisms related to electrolyte transport in the proximal and distal colon. Water and solutes absorption from the perfused colon in the food restricted voles were significantly lower compared to voles fed ad libitum. No such effect was recorded in the two murid species. In vitro studies, employing Ussing chambers, were conducted to characterize the sodium and chloride transport mechanisms. In the colon of the voles and spiny mice as well as in the distal colon of the laboratory mice, net Na+ flux was not significantly different from that of Cl-, and both were higher than the measured equivalent short circuit current. The results suggest an electroneutral sodium transport mechanism in all three species. A high capacity to adjust the rate of water absorption to the amount of fermentable substance in the intestine was demonstrated only in the vole.     

Vigilant and hypervigilant decision making.

Recent studies have argued that deficient decision making under stress is due to adoption of a hypervigilant style of decision making, which has been characterized as disorganized and inefficient. However, under the conditions that characterize many real-world or naturalistic tasks, a hypervigilant pattern of decision making may be adaptive, because the decision maker does not have the luxury of implementing a more elaborate analytic procedure. This study examined the effectiveness of vigilant and hypervigilant decision-making strategies on a naturalistic task. Results indicated that participants who used a hypervigilant decision-making strategy performed better than those who used a vigilant strategy. Implications for decision making in naturalistic environments are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality parental decision making and distress

OBJECTIVES: To prove that the model of perspective projection allows precise registration of intra-oral radiographs regardless of whether they have been acquired with or without individual adjustment aids and independent of the human observer or computer algorithm marking corresponding landmarks in the images and, based on in vivo radiographs, to introduce and evaluate a model-based registration method. METHODS: Five observers (three experts and two non-experts) were asked to define corresponding points in 24 pairs of in vivo dental radiographs from the same region of the same patient. The landmarks were used to fit the model of perspective projection applying the least squares method. Misplaced landmarks were detected and suppressed by analysing the quality of all subsets of landmarks with respect to the minimal residual (leaving one out method). In addition, local correlation was used to optimize the quality of registration as well as observer independence. RESULTS: Using six or more corresponding landmarks in both radiographs the correlation of the images registered was > 0.95 (S.D. < 0.063) irrespective of the observers' expertise. CONCLUSIONS: Perspective projection is a reliable model for sequentially acquired intra-oral radiographs. The co-ordinates of anatomical landmarks are useful for determining the parameters of perspective projection. Local correlation and leaving one out techniques improve the geometrical adjustment as well as observer independence. Registration is nearly independent of the actual position of the landmarks and hence independent of the observer. Our algorithm will also be useful for registration techniques based on automatically detected landmarks.     

On-scene medical decision making and overtriage

This study examined whether a hospital-based helicopter trauma service led to 'overtriage' of patients back to the multispecialty base hospital. All accident-site triage decisions made during 1991 were studied. Seven of the 574 decisions (1.2 per cent) led to inappropriate movement of the patient to a specialist centre. Twenty-six decisions (4.5 per cent) were based on mechanism of injury alone and the possibility of overtriage by this method is discussed. A trained doctor can select the correct destination for a patient with trauma without inappropriately using the base hospital in preference to local centres.     

Legal reasoning and medical decision making

Fifteen routine nasal polypectomy specimens submitted to our laboratory over an eight-month period were noted to show marked atypia within areas of squamous metaplasia to a degree suggestive of dysplasia. Reviewing the literature revealed little published work in this area, especially recently. Further nasal polyp cases from this, and a similar previous time period, were re-examined, and possible causes for these changes discussed.     

Conformity and problem solving.

Tests of problem solving, conformity, and intelligence were given to 77 women and 64 men introductory psychology students to investigate the possibility that conformity, a nonintellectual variable, contributes to the variability in achievement in problem solving. The results show a negative correlation between tendency to conform and achievement in problem solving when the influence of intelligence is statistically removed. 17 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond ethical decision making.

The concepts of mandatory vs aspirational ethics, principle vs virtue ethics, and moral responsibleness illustrate the differences between externally and internally based moral and ethical behavior The complex nature of consulting relationships provides an especially rich context for such an examination. Two models are delineated: The 1st reflects a focus on mandatory or principle ethics, and the 2nd focuses on aspirational or virtue ethics. Finally, several questions are posed regarding the role that moral considerations should play in consultation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special issue: Emotion and decision making.

It is a perennial debate in the social sciences: Are emotions the bane of optimal behavior, or do emotions contribute invaluably to the process of decision making to improve human outcomes? The debate continues, in part because both sides can point to rigorous data and important theories that support their claims. The articles in this special issue advance both sides of that debate and, in doing so, help point the way toward a more integrative solution. The papers in this special issue approach the topics of emotion and decision making as a set, with an eye toward integrating the role of emotion in decision making or the emotional consequences of decision making. The papers in this special issue not only introduce readers to core concepts essential to choice and emotion, but also develop sophisticated integrative models. These models promise to advance the fields of psychology, marketing, and economics toward a joint science involving the complex interplay between emotions and decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)