The self-regulation of decision-relevant modes of thought

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Dual-process theories commonly distinguish between impulsive and reflective modes of information processing. A large body of research has been concerned with the nature of these two modes of processing and their effects on judgements and decisions. In our research project, we investigate whether individuals can strategically engage in reflective (versus impulsive) information processing, and how such an engagement affects decision making. We address this issue from the perspective of the self-regulation of information processing. Specifically, we capitalize on the selfregulation strategy of if-then planning (also referred to as implementation intentions). The results from the first phase of our project provide converging evidence that individuals can indeed use ifthen plans to engage in reflective information processing. Across a variety of decision contexts, we found that planning to engage in reflective processing fostered responses that (1) took more time, (2) relied less on contextual, dispositional, and affective-motivational influences, and (3) produced a better performance in performance-based assessments of reflective processing. In the second phase of our project, we plan to augment these encouraging findings by scrutinizing the processes triggered by engaging in reflective processing. Specifically, we will pursue two main aims: First, we will investigate how planned reflection changes active information acquisition. This will be done by resorting to the MouseLab technique as an established tool for tracing information processing. Second, we will examine whether these changes in information acquisition constitute a prerequisite for reflection effects to occur. We plan to conduct a total of 8 experiments, comprising a performance-based assessment of reflective processing (i.e., Cognitive Reflection Test) as well as paradigms designed to measure social (i.e., ultimatum games) and risk preferences (i.e., gambling tasks). The proposed studies for the second phase of our project augment our current research in important ways. Beyond knowing that planning to engage in reflection actually leads to reflection (accompanied by more consistent choices and better performance), we gain insights into the underlying processes. More specifically, we will better understand how planned reflection changes active information acquisition, and the extent to which these changes are a prerequisite for reflection effects to occur. Such knowledge is crucial to further refine if-then planning and to obtain a powerful self-regulation tool for facilitating reflective processing.