Developing a Taxonomy of Decision Modes

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Abstract ***000079664 (proposal number)Elke WeberRecent work in decision making has expanded the notion of how people make decisions.Many researchers now look beyond the rational choice framework used by economists orthe cognitive information integration framework traditionally used by psychologists.With the expansion of the traditional notion of decision-making as a cost-benefitanalysis, researchers are finding that decision makers act in a variety of ways thatcannot be described in terms of costs and benefits (Beach & Mitchell, 1990;Gigerenzer, Todd, & Group, 1999; Hammond, 1996; Klein, 1998; Yates & Lee, 1996). Insome cases, these alternative decision-making modes are even designed to preventcost-benefit calculations (March, 1994; Prelec & Hernstein, 1991). Yates and Lee(1996) coined the term decision modes to describe qualitatively different strategiesfor arriving at a decision.Given the new plurality of views on the ways that people make decisions, it is time totake a look at the bigger picture and to carefully examine the range of decision modesthat people use. In the current climate of decision making research, the carefuldevelopment of a taxonomy of decision modes will be an important contribution to thefield. A central objective of the proposed research is to develop a comprehensivetaxonomy of decision modes and a common vocabulary that can be used to identify anddistinguish decision making processes that fall within each mode. The proposedtaxonomy includes four decision modes, i.e., cost-benefit-based, recognition-based,affect-based, and reason-based. Each mode is characterized in terms of itsattentional focus, primary cognitive and affective processes, and mentalrepresentations. The further development of this decision mode taxonomy will involvemore precisely characterizing the distinguishing attributes of different decisionmodes and developing experimental procedures able to demonstrate more unequivocallythe existence of these qualitatively different modes. A second objective is to establish a better understanding of the factors thatdetermine when a particular mode will be used and why. This requires the developmentof a model of implicit decision mode selection that is directly related to thedecision mode taxonomy. Which decision mode is used in a given situation ishypothesized to depend both on person-centered factors (i.e., cognitive and affectiveprocesses) and on situational factors. Identifying and characterizing the factorsthat influence decision mode selection will be important not only because it istheoretically interesting to better understand the decision making process, but alsobecause the selection of one or the other decision mode is hypothesized to influencethe final decision outcome. The proposed research has the potential to integrate existing knowledge about humanmotivation, the nature and function of cognitive and affective processes, and mentalrepresentation into an adaptive decision making framework. The proposed framework isfar broader than its precursors in both its specification of the criteria on whichpeople are trying to optimize and its specification of the strategies and processes atpeople's disposal. Such a framework has the potential to guide and focus newresearch in the field.