Coherence and correspondence in engineering design: informing the conversation and connecting with judgment and decision-making research
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2009, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
I show how the coherence/correspondence distinction can inform the conversation about decision methods for engineering design. Some engineers argue for the application of multi-attribute utility theory while others argue for what they call heuristics. To clarify the differences among methods, I first ask whether each method aims at achieving coherence or correspondence. By analyzing statements in the design literature, I argue that utility theory aims at achieving coherence and heuristics aim at achieving correspondence. Second, I ask if achieving coherence always implies achieving correspondence. It is important to provide an answer because while in design the objective is correspondence, it is difficult to assess it, and coherence that is easier to assess is used as a surrogate. I argue that coherence does not always imply correspondence in design and that this is also the case in problems studied in judgment and decision-making research. Uncovering the conditions under which coherence implies, or does not imply, correspondence is a topic where engineering design and judgment and decision-making research might connect.
Authors and Affiliations
Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP677670
- DOI -
- Views 161
- Downloads 0
Does menu design influence retirement investment choices? Evidence from Italian occupational pension funds
Previous research has demonstrated that consumers’ decisions regarding supplementary pensions could be affected by biases. Bernatzi and Thaler’s experiment demonstrated that menu design can influence pension fund enrollm...
The influence of group decision making on indecisiveness-related decisional confidence
Indecisiveness is an individual difference measure of chronic difficulty and delay in decision making. Indecisiveness is associated with low decisional confidence and distinct patterns of pre-choice information search be...
Sequential and simultaneous multiple explanation: Implications for alternative consideration when response options are not provided
This paper reports two experiments comparing variants of multiple explanation applied in the early stages of a judgment task (a case involving employee theft) where participants are not given a menu of response options....
“I am uncertain” vs “It is uncertain”. How linguistic markers of the uncertainty source affect uncertainty communication
Two psychological sources of uncertainty bear implications for judgment and decision-making: external uncertainty is seen as stemming from properties of the world, whereas internal uncertainty is seen as stemming from la...
A simple remedy for overprecision in judgment
Overprecision is the most robust type of overconfidence. We present a new method that significantly reduces this bias and offers insight into its underlying cause. In three experiments, overprecision was significantly re...