IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10347.html

Testing the Advantages of Conscious vs. Unconscious Thought for Complex Decisions in a Distraction Free Paradigm

Author

Listed:
  • McElroy, Todd

    (Florida Gulf Coast University)

  • Dickinson, David L.

    (Appalachian State University)

Abstract

In this study we test predictions from Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) that unconscious thought will lead to better decision making in complex decision tasks relative to conscious thought. Different from prior work testing this prediction, we use a method of manipulating conscious and unconscious thinking that is free from distraction. Specifically, we use a 3-week protocol to experimentally induce adverse sleep and circadian states, both of which should reduce deliberative, conscious thinking and therefore increase the relative importance of more automatic unconscious processes. Our findings fail to support UTT predictions and instead coalesce with other replication attempts that cast doubt on the superiority of unconscious processing in complex decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • McElroy, Todd & Dickinson, David L., 2016. "Testing the Advantages of Conscious vs. Unconscious Thought for Complex Decisions in a Distraction Free Paradigm," IZA Discussion Papers 10347, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10347.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Felix Acker, 2008. "New findings on unconscious versus conscious thought in decision making: additional empirical data and meta-analysis," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 3, pages 292-303, April.
    2. Dustin P. Calvillo & Alan Penaloza, 2009. "Are complex decisions better left to the unconscious? Further failed replications of the deliberation-without-attention effect," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(6), pages 509-517, October.
    3. Todd J. Thorsteinson & Scott Withrow, 2009. "Does unconscious thought outperform conscious thought on complex decisions? A further examination," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(3), pages 235-247, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. William J. Matthews, 2011. "What would judgment and decision making research be like if we took a Bayesian approach to hypothesis testing?," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(8), pages 843-856, December.
    2. Huizenga, Hilde M. & Wetzels, Ruud & van Ravenzwaaij, Don & Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan, 2012. "Four empirical tests of Unconscious Thought Theory," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 332-340.
    3. Mark Nieuwenstein & Hedderik van Rijn, 2012. "The unconscious thought advantage: Further replication failures from a search for confirmatory evidence," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 7(6), pages 779-798, November.
    4. Laurent Waroquier & David Marchiori & Olivier Klein & Axel Cleeremans, 2009. "Methodological pitfalls of the Unconscious Thought paradigm," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(7), pages 601-610, December.
    5. Barney Tan & Cheng Yi & Hock C. Chan, 2015. "Research Note—Deliberation Without Attention: The Latent Benefits of Distracting Website Features for Online Purchase Decisions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 437-455, June.
    6. Dustin P. Calvillo & Alan Penaloza, 2009. "Are complex decisions better left to the unconscious? Further failed replications of the deliberation-without-attention effect," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(6), pages 509-517, October.
    7. Balazs Aczel & Bence Lukacs & Judit Komlos & Michael R. F. Aitken, 2011. "Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(4), pages 351-358, June.
    8. Amanda Woolley & Olga Kostopoulou & Brendan C. Delaney, 2016. "Can Medical Diagnosis Benefit from “Unconscious Thought†?," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 36(4), pages 541-549, May.
    9. Nina Horstmann & Andrea Ahlgrimm & Andreas Glöckner, 2009. "How Distinct are Intuition and Deliberation? An Eye-Tracking Analysis of Instruction-Induced Decision Modes," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics 2009_10, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics.
    10. Alfio Giarlotta & Angelo Petralia, 2024. "Simon’s bounded rationality," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 47(1), pages 327-346, June.
    11. DeKay, Michael L. & Miller, Seth A. & Schley, Dan R. & Erford, Breann M., 2014. "Proleader and antitrailer information distortion and their effects on choice and postchoice memory," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 134-150.
    12. Frank Renkewitz & Heather M. Fuchs & Susann Fiedler, 2011. "Is there evidence of publication biases in JDM research?," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(8), pages 870-881, December.
    13. Nina Horstmann & Andrea Ahlgrimm & Andreas Glöckner, 2009. "How distinct are intuition and deliberation? An eye-tracking analysis of instruction-induced decision modes," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(5), pages 335-354, August.
    14. Gillian W. Hooker & Kara-Grace Leventhal & Tiffani DeMarco & Beth N. Peshkin & Clinton Finch & Erica Wahl & Jessica Rispoli Joines & Karen Brown & Heiddis Valdimarsdottir & Marc D. Schwartz, 2011. "Longitudinal Changes in Patient Distress following Interactive Decision Aid Use among BRCA1/2 Carriers," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 31(3), pages 412-421, May.
    15. Todd J. Thorsteinson & Scott Withrow, 2009. "Does unconscious thought outperform conscious thought on complex decisions? A further examination," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 4(3), pages 235-247, April.
    16. Shahar Ayal & Guy Hochman & Dan Zakay, 2011. "Two sides of the same coin: Information processing style and reverse biases," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(4), pages 295-306, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10347. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.