Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T18:53:52.524Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is the unconscious, if it exists, a superior decision maker?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2014

Hilde M. Huizenga ,
Anna C. K. van Duijvenvoorde ,
Don van Ravenzwaaij ,
Ruud Wetzels  and
Brenda R. J. Jansen
Hilde M. Huizenga
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected]://home.medewerker.uva.nl/h.m.huizenga/ Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 1018XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected]://home.medewerker.uva.nl/b.r.j.jansen/
Anna C. K. van Duijvenvoorde
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected]://home.medewerker.uva.nl/h.m.huizenga/ Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University, 2333AK Leiden, The Netherlands. [email protected]://home.medewerker.uva.nl/a.c.k.vanduijvenvoorde
Don van Ravenzwaaij
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308, Australia. [email protected]://www.donvanravenzwaaij.com
Ruud Wetzels
Affiliation:
Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, 1098XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected] Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, 1018WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Brenda R. J. Jansen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected]://home.medewerker.uva.nl/h.m.huizenga/ Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 1018XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected]://home.medewerker.uva.nl/b.r.j.jansen/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Newell & Shanks (N&S) show that there is no convincing evidence that processes assumed to be unconscious and superior are indeed unconscious. We take their argument one step further by showing that there is also no convincing evidence that these processes are superior. We review alternative paradigms that may provide more convincing tests of the superiority of (presumed) unconscious processes.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 32 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H. & Anderson, S. W. (1994) Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition 50 (1–3):7–15. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8039375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bröder, A. & Schiffer, S. (2003a) Bayesian strategy assessment in multi-attribute decision making. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 16(3):193–213. doi: 10.1002/bdm.442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bröder, A. & Schiffer, S. (2003b) Take the best versus simultaneous feature matching: Probabilistic inferences from memory and effects of representation format. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 132(2):277–93. doi: 10.1037/0096–3445.132.2.277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dijksterhuis, A., Bos, M. W., Nordgren, L. F. & van Baaren, R. B. (2006b) On making the right choice: The deliberation-without-attention effect. Science 311(5763):1005–1007. doi: 10.1126/science.1121629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K. Van, Jansen, B. R. J., Visser, I. & Huizenga, H. M. (2010) Affective and cognitive decision-making in adolescents. Developmental Neuropsychology 35(5):539–54. doi: 10.1080/875656412010494749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horstmann, A., Villringer, A. & Neumann, J. (2012) Iowa Gambling Task: There is more to consider than long-term outcome. Using a linear equation model to disentangle the impact of outcome and frequency of gains and losses. Frontiers in Neuroscience6(May):61. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2012.00061.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huizenga, H. M., Crone, E. A. & Jansen, B. R. J. (2007) Decision-making in healthy children, adolescents and adults explained by the use of increasingly complex proportional reasoning rules. Developmental Science 10(6):814–25. doi: 10.1111/j.1467–7687.2007.00621.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huizenga, H. M., Wetzels, R., Van Ravenzwaaij, D. & Wagenmakers, E. J. (2012) Four empirical tests of unconscious thought theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 117(2):332–40. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.11.010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansen, B. R. J., Van Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K. & Huizenga, H. M. (2012) Development of decision making: Sequential versus integrative rules. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 111(1):87–100. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.07.006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. Allen Lane and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Lin, C.-H., Chiu, Y.-C. & Huang, J.-T. (2009) Gain-loss frequency and final outcome in the Soochow Gambling Task: A reassessment. Behavioral and Brain Functions 5:45. doi: 10.1186/1744-9081-5-45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, C.-H., Song, T.-J., Lin, Y.-K. & Chiu, Y.-C. (2012) Mirrored prominent deck B phenomenon: Frequent small losses override infrequent large gains in the inverted Iowa Gambling Task. PloS One 7(10):e47202. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047202.Google Scholar
Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R. & Johnson, E. (1988) Adaptive Strategy Selection in Decision making. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 14(3):534–52.Google Scholar
Payne, J. W., Samper, A., Bettman, J. R. & Luce, M. F. (2008) Boundary conditions on unconscious thought in complex decision making. Psychological Science 19(11):1118–23. doi: 10.1111/j.1467–9280.2008.02212.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pohl, R. F., Erdfelder, E., Hilbig, B. E., Liebke, L. & Stahlberg, D. (2013) Effort reduction after self-control depletion: The role of cognitive resources in use of simple heuristics. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 25(3):267–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. & West, R. F. (2000) Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23(5):645–65; discussion, 665–726. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11301544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1992) Advances in prospect theory: Cumulative representation of uncertainty. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 5(4):297–323. doi: 10.1007/BF00122574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tversky, A. & Slovic, P. (1988) Contingent weighting in judgment and choice. Psychological Review 95(3):371–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Usher, M., Russo, Z., Weyers, M., Brauner, R. & Zakay, D. (2011) The impact of the mode of thought in complex decisions: Intuitive decisions are better. Frontiers in Psychology 2(March):37. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00037.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed