认知闭合需要、框架效应与决策偏好

Need for Cognitive Closure,Framing Effect and Decision Preference

在带有模糊性的决策情境中,决策者个人的认知特征会对其判断决策产生重要影响。通过实验的方法,考察了认知闭合需要和特征框架效应对个体决策偏好的影响。93名工商管理硕士(MBA)参与了实验,研究的结果支持了研究的3个假设,即认知闭合需要与特征框架效应不仅对被试的决策偏好存在显著的影响,而且二者还存在显著的交互作用。具体来说,研究发现,在模糊情境中:高认知闭合需要的被试偏好于立刻做出决策,而低认知闭合需要的被试偏好于暂缓做出决策;接收到正向框架信息的被试偏好于立刻做出决策,而接收到负向框架信息的被试偏好于暂缓做出决策;认知闭合需要与特征框架对被试的决策偏好还存在显著的交互作用。研究结论为根据个体认知闭合需要的水平来选拔决策者、利用框架效应来影响个体的信息加工方式进而提高决策质量提供了理论依据。

Individuals often use heuristics to make decisions. As heuristic-based judgments are likely to create bias, it is useful to investigate who tend to use more heuristics in their judgments. Lay epistemic theory in social cognitive psychology has asserted that, individuals with high dispositional need for cognitive closure （NFCC） prefer to make instant decisions under uncertain situations. Based on this theory and related research findings, we hypothesized that people with high dispositional NFCC would use more heuristics in making decisions and prefer an instant judgment. We also predicted that negative framing would make people process information in a more systematic way, leading individuals to defer their choices instead of making immediate judgments under ambiguous situations. To investigate the influence of need for cognitive closure and attribute framing on individuals＇ decision preference, a 2 （high vs. low NFCC）^＊ 2 （positive vs. negative attribute framing） between-subject design was adopted. Ninety three MBA students were asked to complete the NFCC scale. Four weeks later, they were asked to participate in a decision making experiment. Each participant was presented with two decision scenarios. After reading each scenario, each was required to indicate the extent of their decision preference-making an immediate decision or deferring the decision. The results showed that, individuals with high NFCC preferred to make decisions immediately whereas those with low NFCC preferred to postpone decisions. Moreover, individuals made immediate decisions when information was positively framed and deferred decisions when information was negatively framed. In addition, NFCC and attribute framing have an interactive effect on decision preference.This study is among the very few studies that investigate the impact of NFCC on decision preference and thus contributes to the framing effect literature by showing that people with high dispositional NFCC are not affected by the framing effect. These findings have significant managerial implications. First, individuals＇ chronic NFCC can serve as a useful criterion in selecting decision makers in organizations. Second, negative framing of decision information can help individuals to search more information before they make a decision, which improve decision quality.