Collaborative Research: Individual Differences in Decision-Making Competence

每天，人们都面临着各种各样的决定，从洗发水、股票、医疗和朋友的选择。当人们还没有从试错中学会做什么时，他们需要一种普遍的能力来做出有效的决定。随之而来的技能包括从世界上提取相关信息，在特定环境中应用一般价值，并将这些部分与连贯的决策规则相结合。研究经常发现这类技能存在缺陷。虽然对一般认知过程的兴趣转移了人们对个体差异的注意力，但人们在这些技能上确实存在很大差异。Parker和Fischhoff(2002)利用这种绩效差异发展了一种决策能力(DMC)的测量。一项正在进行的纵向研究对受访者进行了七项任务，利用上述技能。在七项DMC任务中，绩效呈正相关，表明存在共同的核心能力。单一的DMC得分与智力、认知方式、风险行为和社会/家庭影响的测量密切相关。尽管雪松的研究展示了DMC的潜力，但它受到一些仪器问题和所用样品特殊性质的限制。目前的研究包括四项研究，这些研究将进一步细化DMC的七项任务。每项研究都根据最新的理论发展和整体规模属性的改善来解决个人决策技能问题。此外，这些研究还提供了解决个人任务领域内的科学问题的机会。这种将实验室结果与“现实世界”行为联系起来的做法本身并没有得到广泛的追求。它提供了澄清决策研究结果的有效性的机会，并阐明了基本理论。这项工作适用于培训个人作出更好的决定、做出法律和医疗决定的能力，以及在竞争环境中的相对表现。

Every day, people face decisions in domains as diverse as the choice of shampoos, stocks, medical treatments, and friends. When people have not learned what to do through trial and error, they need a general ability to make effective decisions. The attendant skills include extracting relevant information from the world, applying general values in specific settings, and integrating these pieces with a coherent decision rule. Research has often found deficiencies in such skills. While interest in general cognitive processes has diverted attention from individual differences, people do differ substantially in these skills.Parker and Fischhoff (2002) used this performance variability to develop a measure of decision-making competence (DMC). Seven tasks, tapping into the above skills, were administered to respondents from an ongoing longitudinal study. Performance correlated positively across the seven DMC tasks, suggesting a common central competency. A single DMC score correlated strongly with measures of intelligence, cognitive style, risk behavior, and social/family influences. Although the CEDAR study demonstrates the potential of DMC, it is limited by problems with some of the instruments and special properties of the sample used. The current research includes four studies that will further refine the seven DMC tasks. Each study addresses individual decision-making skills in light of recent theoretical developments and improving overall scale properties. In addition, these studies provide opportunities for addressing scientific questions within the individual task domains.This connection of laboratory results with "real world" behavior is an exercise itself that has not been widely pursued. It provides the opportunity to clarify the validity of decision-making research findings, as well as shed light on the underlying theory. This work has applications to the training of individuals to make better decisions, competence in making legal and medical decisions, as well as relative performance in competitive environments.