任务重要性对决策策略有效性的影响

The Impact of Task Importance on The Validity of Decision Strategies

研究以选择决策中决策任务的主观性为关注点,通过现场调查和实验室实验考察决策任务重要性对启发式和分析式策略有效性的影响。结果发现,在感知任务重要的情况下,采用分析式策略的被试决策后满意度高于采用启发式策略的被试;在感知任务不重要情况下,采用启发式策略的被试决策后满意度高于采用分析式策略的被试。研究表明,决策者感知到的任务重要与否会影响启发式和分析式两种决策策略的效果。

There are two kinds of information processing in the process of individual decision-making which are shown as heuristic and analytical decision strategies. The former is generally characterized as quick, automatic and affective and the latter is considered to be slow, logical and analytic in nature. Each of decision strategy has its own applicable condition. Decision task characteristics(such as task structure, task content, task complexity and how the task is presented) can affect the validity of decision-making. Since the effect of task characteristics on strategy is hotly debated, we consider that existing studies neglected the subjectivity of decision-maker in their experimental operation. Different individuals may have different perception on the same task, and the same characteristic may be perceived as different. This research focused on the subjectivity of decision task characteristics and examined the impact of task importance on the two decision strategies. We at first investigated the impact of task importance through field experiment in real consumption situation, and then further tested the results of field experiments by manipulating related variables in laboratory. Our hypothesis was that when the task was perceived to be important, the effect of analytical strategy was better than that of heuristic strategy;when the task was perceived to be unimportant, heuristic strategy was more effective.Study 1 was implemented at the exit of campus supermarket and the subjects were college students who had just finished consuming. The investigation involved the background information of the subjects and three questions about the importance of the commodity that subjects bought, the strategy used to select commodity and the satisfaction after purchasing by self-report questionnaire. Study 2 employed a 2(importance: important vs. unimportant) × 2(decision strategy: heuristic vs. analytical) between-subjects design. The importance was manipulated by relevance of decision results and the decision strategy by instruction. The dependent variable was post-decision satisfaction. Participants were assigned to different conditions to finish different course selection task and a series of post testing. In this study, participants’ moods were measured when they fulfilled course selection task.The results showed that task importance had impact on the validity of decision strategies. When task was perceived important, the effect of analytical strategy was better than heuristic strategy and when task was perceived unimportant, the effect of heuristic strategy was better. In better condition, post-satisfaction of subjects was higher. In this study, the differences of post-satisfaction which varied between groups were not due to subjects’ moods.Current research can contribute to further understanding of the decision makers’ perceived task characteristics as well as its relationship with the decision strategies. This research implied that such relationship may have an influence on decision quality. Moreover, our findings can help develop the relevant theories on behavioral decision-making and provide a new idea for improving individual’s post-decision satisfaction. Future research will need to examine whether this result can be reflected in other variables such as behavior and behavioral tendencies. After all, subjective evaluation in this research is the most sensitive variable.