Heuristic and Systematic Information Processing when Valuating multiple Gains and Losses

Based on prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) individuals are predicted to violate simple economic principles when evaluating consolidated versus segregated gains and losses (Thaler, 1985). Resting on the heuristic-systematic model of information processing (Chaiken, 1987) this paper attempts to enhance our understanding of the motivational and cognitive underpinnings of these evaluations. We predict that valuations of multiple gains and losses are influenced by the mode of information processing (systematic versus heuristic) and the prevailing motivation (high versus low accuracy motivation). The predictions were partly confirmed in an experimental study.

[1]  H. Triandis.  Individualism And Collectivism , 1995 .

[2]  J. Moskowitz,et al.  Coping: pitfalls and promise. , 2004, Annual review of psychology.

[3]  Dawn Iacobucci,et al.  Consumer Personality and Coping: Testing Rival Theories of Process , 2005 .

[4]  B. Julesz.  A brief outline of the texton theory of human vision , 1984, Trends in Neurosciences.

[5]  G. W. Fischer,et al.  Preferences for separating or combining events. , 1991, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[6]  Grant Mccracken.  Culture and Consumption: A Theoretical Account of the Structure and Movement of the Cultural Meaning of Consumer Goods , 1986 .

[7]  H. Triandis,et al.  Allocentric versus idiocentric tendencies: Convergent and discriminant validation , 1985 .

[8]  S. Chaiken.  The heuristic model of persuasion. , 1987 .

[9]  J. Bargh,et al.  The psychology of action : linking cognition and motivation to behavior , 1999 .

[10]  S. Folkman,et al.  Coping as a mediator of emotion. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[11]  J. Moskowitz,et al.  Positive affect and the other side of coping. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[12]  Christopher K. Hsee,et al.  Music, Pandas, and Muggers: On the Affective Psychology of Value , 2004, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[13]  Rolf Nelson,et al.  When does grouping happen? , 2003, Acta psychologica.

[14]  Arie W. Kruglanski,et al.  Goals as knowledge structures. , 1996 .

[15]  Magne Supphellen,et al.  Developing and Testing the Cultural Embeddedness of Products (Cep) Scale , 2006 .

[16]  S. Chaiken,et al.  Heuristic processing can bias systematic processing: effects of source credibility, argument ambiguity, and task importance on attitude judgment. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[17]  R. Thaler,et al.  Gambling with the house money and trying to break even: the effects of prior outcomes on risky choice , 1990 .

[18]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[19]  A. Tversky,et al.  Choices, Values, and Frames , 2000 .

[20]  I. Biederman,et al.  Surface versus edge-based determinants of visual recognition , 1988, Cognitive Psychology.

[21]  T. Chartrand,et al.  Automatic Activation of Impression Formation and Memorization Goals: Nonconscious Goal Priming Reproduces Effects of Explicit Task Instructions , 1996 .

[22]  Jennifer Aaker,et al.  “I” Seek Pleasures and “We” Avoid Pains: The Role of Self-Regulatory Goals in Information Processing and Persuasion , 2001 .

[23]  Shelly Chaiken,et al.  Getting at the truth or getting along: Accuracy- versus impression-motivated heuristic and systematic processing. , 1996 .

[24]  Richard H. Thaler,et al.  Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice , 1985, Mark. Sci..

[25]  M. Rohan.  A Rose by Any Name? The Values Construct , 2000 .

[26]  S. Schwartz.  Are There Universal Aspects in the Structure and Contents of Human Values , 1994 .

[27]  A. Treisman.  Visual Attention and the Perception of Features and Objects , 1994 .

[28]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: Structural Equation Modeling With the Simplis Command Language , 1993 .

[29]  I. Biederman.  Recognition-by-components: a theory of human image understanding. , 1987, Psychological review.

[30]  S. Palmer.  Vision Science : Photons to Phenomenology , 1999 .

[31]  A. Tversky,et al.  Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk — Source link , 2007 .

[32]  Durairaj Maheswaran,et al.  Motivated Reasoning in Outcome-Bias Effects , 2005 .

[33]  Durairaj Maheswaran,et al.  Cultural Variations in Country of Origin Effects , 2000 .

[34]  David H. Silvera,et al.  Feeling Good about Ourselves , 2004 .

[35]  S. Shavitt,et al.  Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Achievement Values , 2002 .