Time to Pay Attention? Information Search Explains Amplified Framing Effects Under Time Pressure

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110269
Author(s):  
Ian D. Roberts ◽  
Yi Yang Teoh ◽  
Cendri A. Hutcherson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Framing Effect ◽  
Dual System ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Strategic Information ◽  
Adult Undergraduates ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Information Sampling

Decades of research have established the ubiquity and importance of choice biases, such as the framing effect, yet why these seemingly irrational behaviors occur remains unknown. A prominent dual-system account maintains that alternate framings bias choices because of the unchecked influence of quick, affective processes, and findings that time pressure increases the framing effect have provided compelling support. Here, we present a novel alternative account of magnified framing biases under time pressure that emphasizes shifts in early visual attention and strategic adaptations in the decision-making process. In a preregistered direct replication ( N = 40 adult undergraduates), we found that time constraints produced strong shifts in visual attention toward reward-predictive cues that, when combined with truncated information search, amplified the framing effect. Our results suggest that an attention-guided, strategic information-sampling process may be sufficient to explain prior results and raise challenges for using time pressure to support some dual-system accounts.

scholarly journals The computational cost of active information sampling prior to decision making under uncertainty

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Petitet ◽  
Bahaaeddin Attaallah ◽  
Sanjay G Manohar ◽  
Masud Husain
Keyword(s):  
Time Pressure ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Related Factor ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Hidden Cost ◽  
Information Sampling

Humans often seek information to minimise the pervasive effect of uncertainty on decisions. Current theories explain how much knowledge people should gather prior to a decision, based on the cost-benefit structure of the problem at hand. Here, we demonstrate that this framework omits a crucial agent-related factor: the cognitive effort expended while collecting information. Using a novel paradigm, we unveil a speed-efficiency trade-off whereby more informative samples actually take longer to find. Crucially, under sufficient time pressure, humans can break this trade-off, sampling both faster and more efficiently. Computational modelling demonstrates the existence of a hidden cost of cognitive effort which, when incorporated into theoretical models, provides a better account of people's behaviour and also predicts self-reported fatigue accumulated during active sampling. By measuring metacognitive accuracy and uncertainty-reward preferences on a static, passive version of the task, we further validate the theoretical constructs captured by our model. Overall, the results show that the way people seek knowledge to guide their decisions is shaped not only by task-related costs and benefits, but also crucially by the quantifiable computational costs incurred.

The Interactive Effect of Time Pressure and Client Preference on Tax Professionals' Information Search Emphasis, Judgments, and Recommendations

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Robert A. Ewing ◽  
Brian C. Spilker
Keyword(s):  
Information Search ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Decision Bias ◽  
Client Preference ◽  
Tax Professionals ◽  
Evidential Support ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Biasing Effects

ABSTRACT Tax professionals commonly search large databases of information to identify tax authority necessary to provide compliance and planning advice to clients. Prior research indicates tax professionals' information search processes are subject to confirmation bias in the direction of client preferences and that this bias can lead professionals to make overly aggressive recommendations. However, very little is known about how time pressure may affect tax professionals' judgment and decision-making processes. This study contributes to practice and to the time pressure and decision bias literatures by providing theory and evidence that increasing time pressure leads to confirmation bias during tax information search and that time pressure enhanced confirmation bias affects recommendations through professionals' assessments of the evidential support for the client-preferred position. With an understanding of how time pressure can influence confirmation bias in information search, professionals and their firms can take steps to manage time pressure and its potential biasing effects.

A comparative analysis of the categorization of multidimensional stimuli: II. Strategic information search in humans (Homo sapiens) but not in pigeons (Columba livia).

2009 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E. G. Lea ◽  
Andy J. Wills ◽  
Lisa A. Leaver ◽  
Catriona M. E. Ryan ◽  
Catherine M. L. Bryant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Columba Livia ◽  
Strategic Information

scholarly journals Rushing towards virtue: time pressure increases socially desirable responding

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Protzko ◽  
Claire Marie Zedelius ◽  
Jonathan Schooler
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Social Desirability ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Socially Desirable Responding ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Social Desirability Scale ◽  
Desirable Response ◽  
Intention To Treat ◽  
Treat Analysis ◽  
Gain Access

The oldest method in psychology of trying to gain access to one part of a divided mind is to instruct participants to answer quickly. Here we propose an alternative account for this procedure, namely, that it makes people give the socially desirable response. We randomly assigned 1,500 Americans to answer a social desirability scale either quickly or slowly. We use an intention-to-treat analysis to test the effects quick vs. slow responding on social desirability. We show quick responding causes an increase in social desirability. We propose that a number of findings using the fast/slow responding manipulation can be partially or entirely explained by participants’ giving the socially desirable response. Future investigations using the time pressure manipulation should account for social desirability to ensure the results are not entirely driven by this mechanism. This study was pre-registered prior to data collection at https://osf.io/rt6un/.

scholarly journals From store brands to store brandscapes: the emergence of a time and money saving heuristic

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 894-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M Collins ◽  
James Martin Cronin ◽  
Steve Burt ◽  
Richard J. George
Keyword(s):  
Information Search ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Store Brand ◽  
Store Brands ◽  
Economics Of Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Pressure

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the role of store brands as a time- and money-saving heuristic in the context of an omnipresent store brand hierarchy. Drawing on the work of Tversky and Kahneman (1982), it proposes that the store brand hierarchy is characterised by many of the traits of frequently used heuristics employed by grocery shoppers. Design/methodology/approach – Based on Chaiken’s (1980) model of information processing and Stigler’s (1961) perspective on the economics of information search, the study deductively establishes a model of store brand proneness to reveal the role of store brands as time- and money-saving heuristic. The model is tested on a sample of 535 US households using structural equation modelling and subsequent multigroup analysis based on two subsamples of households experiencing high financial pressure but who differ in terms of time pressure. Findings – The findings provide strong support for store brands as a time- and money-saving heuristic and as a substitute for price search among households experiencing financial and time pressures. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is that the study is based on a sample of households located in one region of the US market. Practical implications – Retailers need to be aware that any extension of the store brand portfolio beyond the traditional multi-tiered price/quality hierarchy risks undermining what has emerged to be a valuable heuristic used by certain shoppers. Originality/value – This study extends our understanding of the role of store brands in the marketplace by going beyond their conceptualisation as a competitive device used by retailers to instead position them as a decision-making tool used by consumers. It also deepens our understanding of the boundary between rational search activities and the transition to the use of frequently flawed heuristics within the shopping process.

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