Dithering

Hold On ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 148-176
Author(s):  
Peter Toohey

Unlike the pausing that takes place in music, the hesitant pause, such as in dithering or procrastination, can be, if not debilitating, at least a problem. But there can be some advantages to dithering. One is that it slows down time, allowing us more time to contemplate what is about to or liable to happen, and to make a decision at the appropriate time. That’s probably the very latest minute. This is Frank Partnoy’s conclusion as it relates to decision-making and as it relates to being effective in business. This version of dithering, a process rather than an emotional experience, is almost a competitive strategy—that’s a very good reason for thinking of dithering as being alarming.

1974 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seymour L. Halleck

Increasing involvement of psychiatrists in legal issues seems inevitable. As the courts are being asked to resolve more and more social conflicts they have understandably sought the assistance of specialists who allegedly bring expertise and prestige to the decision-making process. While psychiatrists can sometimes help the courts make more informed decisions, there is good reason to question whether much of current psychiatric involvement in legal issues serves a useful social purpose. Psychiatrists are also spending more time in the courtroom defending certain treatments of patients that had never before been questioned. The validity of attacks on certain psychiatric practices and the potential long-term effects on the treatment of patients must be reappraised in terms of current social conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 508
Author(s):  
Hiroyoshi Ogishima ◽  
Shunta Maeda ◽  
Yuki Tanaka ◽  
Hironori Shimada

Background: In this study, we examined the relationships between reward-based decision-making in terms of learning rate, memory rate, exploration rate, and depression-related subjective emotional experience, in terms of interoception and feelings, to understand how reward-based decision-making is impaired in depression. Methods: In all, 52 university students were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. To manipulate interoception, the participants in the experimental group were instructed to tune their internal somatic sense to the skin-conductance-response waveform presented on a display. The participants in the control group were only instructed to stay relaxed. Before and after the manipulation, the participants completed a probabilistic reversal-learning task to assess reward-based decision-making using reinforcement learning modeling. Similarly, participants completed a probe-detection task, a heartbeat-detection task, and self-rated scales. Results: The experimental manipulation of interoception was not successful. In the baseline testing, reinforcement learning modeling indicated a marginally-significant correlation between the exploration rate and depressive symptoms. However, the exploration rate was significantly associated with lower interoceptive attention and higher depressive feeling. Conclusions: The findings suggest that situational characteristics may be closely involved in reward exploration and highlight the clinically-meaningful possibility that intervention for affective processes may impact reward-based decision-making in those with depression.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 2340-2366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luqman Oyekunle Oyewobi ◽  
Abimbola Olukemi Windapo ◽  
James Olabode Bamidele Rotimi ◽  
Richard Ajayi Jimoh

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the possible moderating role of organisational characteristics (organisational structure, management style and decision-making style) in the relationship between strategy and organisational performance among large construction organisations in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a questionnaire survey to obtain data from 72 large construction organisations in South Africa. Using hierarchical multiple regression, the paper examines the relationship between the constructs discussed in the study. Findings The internal characteristics of the organisation form the vital basis for achieving optimal performance. The results obtained from the analysis revealed that decision-making style directly influences the measure of organisational effectiveness, while it could also be inferred that organisational characteristics partly moderate the relationship between competitive strategy and organisational performance. The findings indicate that internal characteristics is one of the means through which organisational strategic factors and contextual aspects are organised to achieve greater organisational performance levels. Originality/value The findings have theoretical implications for strategic management literature in construction as it extends the scope of research on strategic management from assessing a set of individual management practices to evaluating a complex mechanism that connects internal characteristics and competitive advantage. It is believed that this study will contribute positively to the role of organisational characteristics in the competitive strategy-performance relationships in large construction organisations in South Africa and to the ongoing discussion on emerging strategic management issues in construction.


Author(s):  
Michael Conklin

Imagine a setting where someone asks two people what the temperature is outside. The first person says it is 80 °F, while the second person says it is 78.7 °F. Research regarding precise versus round cognitive anchoring suggests that the second person is more likely to be believed. This is because it is human nature to assume that if someone gives a precise answer, he must have good reason for doing so. This principle remains constant in a variety of settings, including used car negotiations, eBay transactions, and estimating the field goal percentage of a basketball player. This Article reports the results of a first-of-its-kind study involving over 600 participants designed to measure if this same principle applies to punitive damage requests from plaintiffs’ attorneys. In other words, can a plaintiff’s attorney increase the punitive damages awarded simply by requesting $497,000 instead of $500,000. The stark differences produced from such a subtle and costless change provide a valuable strategy for plaintiffs’ attorneys, a cautionary warning for civil defense attorneys, and constructive insight into the subjective nature of juror decision-making.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1239-1266
Author(s):  
Yu Pan ◽  
Fujun Lai ◽  
Zhuo Fang ◽  
Sihua Xu ◽  
Li Gao ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Castelli ◽  
Davide Massaro ◽  
Alan G. Sanfey ◽  
Antonella Marchetti

Background: Decision making is a complex psychological process driven by emotions. Among the most unpleasant ones are the situations when the obtained outcome is not the one expected. This emotional experience is influenced by sense of agency, i.e. the feeling that we voluntarily control our actions and, through them, events in the world. Negative counterfactual emotions as disappointment have been marginally analyzed in children’s decision-making, and the study of children’s sense of agency could help to understand them. Objective: To evaluate during childhood the valence of disappointment in decision making in relation to the possibility of choosing or not. Method: 107 children (age range 7-10 years) rated their emotions before and after discovering the outcome, in two experimental conditions: choice condition, where the child could decide which of the two remaining tickets to choose in order to win some candies, and no choice condition, where the child could not decide as only one ticket was left. Results: The self-attribution of a positive emotional state was significantly higher in the choice condition than in the no choice condition, so the possibility to pick up the ticket made children happier in general, by promoting an “illusion of control”, which is absent in the no choice condition. Then, after discovering the bad outcome, the emotions collapse, settling at substantially similar values. Conclusion: Children have experienced a sense of agency for their choice, thus leading to an illusion of control for the decision process and to the so-called “wishful thinking”.


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