Thinking dynamics and individual differences: Mouse-tracking analysis of the denominator neglect task
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2018, Vol 13, Issue 1
Abstract
Most decision-making models describing individual differences in heuristics and biases tasks build on the assumption that reasoners produce a first incorrect answer in a quick, automatic way which they may or may not override later and that the advantage of high capacity reasoners arises from this late correction mechanism. To investigate this assumption, we developed a mouse-tracking analysis technique to capture individuals’ first answers and subsequent thinking dynamics. Across two denominator neglect task experiments, we observed that individuals initially move the mouse cursor towards the correct answer option in a substantial number of cases suggesting that reasoners may not always produce an incorrect answer first. Furthermore, we observed that, compared to low capacity reasoners, high capacity individuals revise their first answer more frequently if it is incorrect and make fewer changes if it is correct. However, we did not find evidence that high capacity individuals produce correct initial answers more frequently. Consistent with the predictions of previous decision-making models, these results suggest that in the denominator neglect task the capacity-normativity relationship arises after the initial response is formulated. The present work demonstrates how the analysis of mouse trajectories can be utilized to investigate individual differences in decision-making and help us better apprehend the dynamics of thinking behind decision biases.
Authors and Affiliations
Barnabas Szaszi, Bence Palfi, Aba Szollosi, Pascal J. Kieslich and Balazs Aczel
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP678323
- DOI -
- Views 114
- Downloads 0
The impact of actively open-minded thinking on social media communication
Online, social media communication is often ambiguous, and it can encourage speed and inattentiveness. We investigated whether Actively Open Minded Thinking (AOT), a dispositional willingness to seek out new or potential...
Possession, feelings of ownership and the endowment effect
Research in judgment and decision making generally ignores the distinction between factual and subjective feelings of ownership, tacitly assuming that the two correspond closely. The present research suggests that this a...
Tests of Cumulative Prospect Theory with graphical displays of probability
Recent research reported evidence that contradicts cumulative prospect theory and the priority heuristic. The same body of research also violates two editing principles of original prospect theory: cancellation (the prin...
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...
Partner selection supported by opaque reputation promotes cooperative behavior
Reputation plays a major role in human societies, and it has been proposed as an explanation for the evolution of cooperation. While the majority of previous studies equates reputation with a transparent and complete his...