The impact of the mode of thought in complex decisions: intuitive decisions are better

A number of recent studies have reported that decision quality is enhanced under conditions of inattention or distraction (unconscious thought; Dijksterhuis, 2004; Dijksterhuis and Nordgren, 2006; Dijksterhuis et al., 2006). These reports have generated considerable controversy, for both experimental (problems of replication) and theoretical reasons (interpretation). Here we report the results of four experiments. The first experiment replicates the unconscious thought effect, under conditions that validate and control the subjective criterion of decision quality. The second and third experiments examine the impact of a mode of thought manipulation (without distraction) on decision quality in immediate decisions. Here we find that intuitive or affective manipulations improve decision quality compared to analytic/deliberation manipulations. The fourth experiment combines the two methods (distraction and mode of thought manipulations) and demonstrates enhanced decision quality, in a situation that attempts to preserve ecological validity. The results are interpreted within a framework that is based on two interacting subsystems of decision-making: an affective/intuition based system and an analytic/deliberation system

Success, Status, and the Goals of a Law School

We all want to be successful, even if we can’t quite articulate what “success” means. Some of us measure success by wealth—a bumper sticker reads, “Whoever dies with the most toys, wins.” Some measure success by power. Others measure it by positive influence on the lives of others—hence, the many who choose public service, or teaching, or a career in one of the helping professions. Still others—the Aristotelians among us—measure success synoptically, by the ability to look back on a fulfilled and moral life

“Regulatory Daubert”: A Proposal to Enhance Judicial Review of Agency Science by Incorporating Daubert Principles into Administrative Law

In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc, the US Supreme Court empowered federal judges to reject irrelevant or unreliable scientific evidence. Daubert provides a suitable framework for reviewing the quality of agency science and the soundness of agency decisions consistent with the standards established for review of agency rulemakings under the Administrative Procedure Act

How users assess web pages for information-seeking

In this paper, we investigate the criteria used by online searchers when assessing the relevance of web pages for information-seeking tasks. Twenty four participants were given three tasks each, and indicated the features of web pages which they employed when deciding about the usefulness of the pages in relation to the tasks. These tasks were presented within the context of a simulated work-task situation. We investigated the relative utility of features identified by participants (web page content,structure and quality), and how the importance of these features is affected by the type of information-seeking task performed and the stage of the search. The results of this study provide a set of criteria used by searchers to decide about the utility of web pages for different types of tasks. Such criteria can have implications for the design of systems that use or recommend web pages

“Regulatory Daubert”: A Proposal to Enhance Judicial Review of Agency Science by Incorporating Daubert Principles into Administrative Law

In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc, the US Supreme Court empowered federal judges to reject irrelevant or unreliable scientific evidence. Daubert provides a suitable framework for reviewing the quality of agency science and the soundness of agency decisions consistent with the standards established for review of agency rulemakings under the Administrative Procedure Act

The success of the company in s. 172(1) of the UK companies act 2006: Towards an 'enlightened directors' primacy' ?

This paper argues that S. 172(1) of the UK Companies Act 2006, which, by incorporating the concept of enlightened shareholders value, requires a director of a company to have regard to several non-shareholders groups, can be read from a particular managerial perspective, and that directors could end up having a personal interest ‘to internalise’ exactly this perspective in their approach to S. 172(1). The article submits that, when this occurs, this managerial perspective can offer an input to the legal reasoning and to the model of companies underpinning UK company law, by turning the enlightened shareholders value into an approach that may be defined ‘enlightened directors’ primacy’ and that would benefit the long-term survival and development of the business activity. This outcome would be fully in line with the OECD Principles on Corporate Governance, and with the ‘interest of the company’ as identified in some continental Europe jurisdictions

College Students' Credibility Judgments in the Information-Seeking Process

Part of the Volume on Digital Media, Youth, and CredibilityThis chapter presents an in-depth exploration of how college students identify credible information in everyday information-seeking tasks. The authors find that credibility assessment is an over-time process rather than a discrete evaluative event. Moreover, the context in which credibility assessment occurs is crucial to understand because it affects both the level of effort as well as the strategies that people use to evaluate credibility. College students indicate that although credibility was an important consideration during information seeking, they often compromised information credibility for speed and convenience, especially when the information sought was less consequential