Learning Psychology in English. Учебно-методический комплекс

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Spurred by Simon's analysis, psychologists have devoted several decades to the study of how cognitive biases distort people's decision making. The results of this research have sometimes been disturbing, leading some theorists to conclude that people “do a singularly bad job at the business of reasoning, even when they are calm, clearheaded, and under no pressure to perform quickly” (Stich, 1990, pp. 173–174). Let's look at this re- search—and recent criticism that it has inspired.

MAKING CHOICES: SELECTING AN ALTERNATIVE

Many decisions involve choices about preferences, which can be made using a variety of strategies (Hogarth, 1987). For instance, imagine that Boris has found two reasonably attractive apartments and is trying to decide between them. How should he go about selecting between his alternatives? Let's look at some strategies Boris might use in trying to make his decision.

If Boris wanted to use an additive strategy, he would list the attributes that influence his decision. Then he would rate the desirability of each apartment on each attribute. For example, let's say that Boris wants to consider four attributes: rent, noise level, distance to campus, and cleanliness. He might make ratings from -3 to +3, like those shown in Table 8.3, add up the ratings for each alternative, and select the one with the largest total. Given the ratings in Table 8.3, Boris should select apartment B.

Table 8.3

Application of the Additive Model to Choosing an Apartment

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To make an additive strategy more useful, you-can weight attributes differently, based on their importance (Goldstein, 1990). For example, if Boris considers distance to campus to be twice as important as the other considerations, he could multiply his ratings of this attribute by 2. The distance rating would then be +6 for apartment A and -2 for apartment B, and apartment A would become the preferred choice.

People also make choices by gradually eliminating less attractive alternatives (Slovic, 1990; Tversky, 1972). This strategy is called elimination by aspects because it assumes that alternatives are eliminated by evaluating them on each attribute or aspect in turn. Whenever any alternative fails to satisfy some minimum criterion for an attribute, it is eliminated from further consideration.

To illustrate, suppose Juanita is looking for a new car. She may begin by eliminating all cars that cost over $19,000. Then she may eliminate cars that don't average at least 20 miles per gallon of gas. By continuing to reject choices that don't satisfy some minimum criterion on selected attributes, she can gradually eliminate alternatives until only a single car remains.

The final choice in elimination by aspects depends on the order in which attributes are evaluated. For example, if cost was the last attribute Juanita evaluated, she could have previously eliminated all cars that cost under $19,000! If she has only $19,000 to spend, her decision-making strategy would not have brought her very far. Thus, when using elimination by aspects, it's best to evaluate attributes in the order of their importance.

Both the additive and the elimination-by-aspects strategies have advantages, but which strategy do people actually tend to use? Research by John Payne (1976) suggests that when decisions involve relatively few options that need to be evaluated on only a few attributes, people tend to use additive strategies. However, as more options and factors are added to a decision task, people tend to shift to elimination by aspects. Thus, people adapt their approach to the demands of the task. When their choices become very complex, they shift toward simpler decision strategies (Payne, Bettman, & Johnson, 1992).

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ECONOMIC MOTIVATION

Incentive schemes. There is little doubt that people work harder when paid by results than when paid by the time they put in. Within certain limitations payment by results, in one form or another, leads to a, higher rate of work and lower labour costs.

There are a number of difficulties about payment by results. First, it creates bad relations between workers and management. The timing of jobs cannot be done objectively, workers develop grievances over the more tightly timed jobs, improvements in methods are concealed from management, quality deteriorates, and elaborate schemes of self-protection and concealment are devised. Workers often restrict output to what they feel is a reasonable rate of work, because they fear rate-cutting and running out of work, and wish to maintain a stable level of earnings. Second, workers tend to resist changes in working arrangements; they do their jobs faster, so that they are making good money, in addition to devising the informal arrangements referred to above. This makes it difficult for management to introduce changes. Third, payment by results also creates bad relations between workers. There is constant friction with management over the timing of jobs, and there is friction between workers and competition to get 'loose' jobs and avoid the 'tight' jobs. Fourth, the clerical and accounting costs are considerably increased.

Payment by results is suitable under certain conditions only – with repetitive work, slow changes, a good time-study department, good industrial relations, and a tradition of incentive payment.

One alternative is group piecework, which avoids friction inside groups and encourages cooperation and help. Group piecework is most appropriate with small, cohesive work groups, where workers are closely interdependent. There are several schemes in which workers are given a bonus on the basis of the overall production or sales of the company or part of it.

Measured day work. The main alternative to wage incentives is a regular weekly or monthly wage in return for an agreed rate of work. Once the rate for the grade has been agreed, management

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pays a regular weekly wage on condition that certain standards are met by the worker. The whole scheme depends on a bargain over what is felt to be a fair relationship between reward and effort. This method is often used when mechanization is introduced and payment by results is no longer possible.

Adams: equity between inputs and outputs. Adams conceptualized this in terms of exchange theory: workers will try to achieve equity between their' inputs' (training, ability, effort, age, etc.) and their 'rewards' (pay, fringe benefits, status, etc.). The ratio of inputs to rewards for different workers in an organization should be the same, or there will be disequity – older or more skilled workers should be paid more by a suitable amount, for example.

Jaques: wage differentials and time-span. Jaques also argues that people seek a state of balance between inputs and reward. He maintains that there are wage norms for jobs, and that these are a function of a single input – the 'time-span of responsibility', i.e. the period of time which may elapse before the supervisor can know whether his subordinate is working efficiently. In practice this is the length of the longest jobs he does.

Equal pay. It is interesting that in almost all cultures it is accepted as just that some people should be paid more than others. Total egalitarianism would work only if people were carefully socialized and indoctrinated to believe in it – as in the kibbutzim. A more acceptable kind of reform might be to find out whether rather smaller differentials than are now common could be established.

The need for money. Little is known about the psychological basis of the need for money. It can be argued that there is no such need and that people only want money to buy food, clothes and other things. For most people in the world it is 'the instrumental value of money that is most important. For the more prosperous people in the more prosperous countries the situation is interesting: they may change their level of aspirations and want more or bigger houses and cars, and this will depend on their social reference group. Or they may want money as an index of success. There is evidently no point at which people do not want more money.

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VOCABULARY

VOCABULARY

LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

LEARNING PSYCHOLOGY IN ENGLISH