Recent research on judgment and decision making emphasizes decision architecture, the task and contextual features of a decision setting that influence how preferences are constructed (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008). In a series of three papers, this dissertation considers architectural features related to the intertemporal structure of the decision setting that influence cognition, motivation, and emotion, and include modifications of (i) informational, (ii) experiential, (iii) procedural, and (iv) emotional environments. This research also identifies obstacles to decision making, whether that obstacle is an individual difference (e.g., age-related change in emotional processing) or a temporary state (e.g., a change in motivational focus, or sensitivity to irrelevant features of the decision setting). Papers 1 and 2 focus on decision architecture related to environmentally-relevant decisions, investigating how structural features of the decision task can trigger different choice processes and behavior. Paper 1 explores a potential mechanism behind constructed preferences relating to climate change belief and explores why these preferences are sensitive to normatively irrelevant features of the judgment context, such as transient outdoor temperature. Paper 2 examines new ways of emphasizing time and uncertainty with the aim of turning psychological obstacles into opportunities, accomplished by making legacy motives more salient to shift preferences from present-future and self-other trade-offs at the point of decision making. Paper 3 examines how the temporal horizon of a decision setting influences predicted future preferences within the domain of affective forecasting. In addition, Paper 3 explores how individual and situational differences might affect the match (or mismatch) between predicted and experienced outcomes by examining differences in forecasting biases among older versus younger adults. Taken together, these three papers aim to encourage individuals to make decisions that are not overshadowed by short-term goals or other constraints, with the aim of producing actionable modifications for policy-makers in the presentation of information relevant to such decisions.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

There is increasing evidence supporting the Affect Infusion Model (AIM), which accounts for the role of affect processing in social judgments. Based on the AIM, the study examined the role of mood states in making risky decisions. Forty female Chinese adults from Hong Kong were recruited for this study. A mood induction procedure was applied before they engaged in the experimental task. On random assignment, each subject was induced either a positive (Happy group), or negative mood (Sad group). Results revealed successful mood induction and no significant interaction effects between the groups across pre-and post-tests. The findings did not support the hypothesis based on the AIM, nor the hypotheses advocating for the opposite of the AIM – Mood Maintenance Hypothesis (MMH) and Mood Repair Hypothesis (MRH). It suggested further studies to examine the possible curvilinear relationship between mood and risky decision making, which will highlight the influence of mood on our decision making when risk taking is involved. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Although organizational memory remains a relatively ill-defined construct, information systems developers seem anxious to build software that is intended to facilitate its development and use. The construct seems to consist of concepts from organizational theory, information systems design, and decision support. Decision support is one of the commonly proposed uses of organizational memory, and a common justification for efforts to build information systems to support organizational memory. Yet, the broad range of information that might be stored in and recalled from an organization's memory makes it difficult to define requirements for an automated organizational memory system. This dissertation describes the design and implementation of a laboratory experiment aimed at discovering whether information about historic decision making behavior could be useful to decision makers in organizations. Several hypotheses were tested. The first is that information about decision-making behavior from the past will lead decision makers to make better decisions in the present. Second, the experiment tested the hypothesis that historic information from an organizational (collective) source would be more helpful to decision makers than similar information from an individual source. These hypotheses were supported. Third, it was hypothesized that historic decision information, presented in the format of a linear regression model would be more helpful to decision makers than similar information in a textual format. This hypothesis was not supported. Additionally, hypotheses were tested concerning the relative benefits of collective and individual sources of historic information versus no historic information, and comparing the benefits of the regression format and textual format versus no historic information. The findings indicated that the information from a collective source provided better decision support than no historic information, but information from the individual source was not significantly superior to no historic information. Further, the information in the textual format was significantly better than no information, but the regression format was not significantly better than no historic information. In general, the findings indicate that historic decision information can lead decision makers to make better decisions, but source of information and the presentation format are important variables affecting the extent of the benefit.

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Luo, Xueying. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-120). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract and appendix also in Chinese.

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Women with anorexia nervosa tend to be ambivalent about change and resistant to treatment. A growing number of researchers suggest that this ambivalence must be targeted early on, before attempting to engage clients in action-oriented treatment that focuses on immediate symptom reduction. However, in order to appropriately address client ambivalence, it must be accurately evaluated with empirically validated instruments. The purpose of this thesis was to develop and validate a Decisional Balance (DB) measure of readiness for change in anorexia nervosa. In Study 1, 246 women with anorexia nervosa completed the DB, and a subset completed the DB again one week later. Unlike traditional decisional balance measures that have two factor (pro-con) solutions, factor analytic techniques indicated that a three factor solution provided the best fit for the DB data in this study. These factors included general negative consequences of the disorder (Burdens), valued achievements such as self-control, being very thin, and striving for perfection (Benefits), and using anorexia nervosa as a means for avoiding aversive emotions, challenges, and responsibilities (Avoidance Coping). The DB demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest stability. In study 2, 80 women with anorexia nervosa completed the DB, along with other measures of readiness for change, as well as measures unrelated to readiness. Support was found for both convergent and divergent validity. Finally, in study 3, 80 women with anorexia nervosa completed the DB, and a measure of anticipated difficulty completing symptom-challenging recovery activities. In addition, participants attempted to complete three recovery activities in the week following initial assessment. Criterion validity was not well supported, most likely because the concurrent and predictive validity measures focused on behavior change, when non-behavioral measures may have been more appropriate. Overall, the results suggest that the DB for anorexia nervosa is a measure of awareness or insight about the functions of this disorder. The theoretical and clinical implications of this research are reviewed and directions for future investigations are proposed.

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