Attention to the here and now: The impact of mindfulness on performance in joint decision making

This dissertation examines conditions which support joint decision making. Based on the intersubjectivity theory in psychoanalysis it was examined whether mindfulness or a component of mindfulness improves joint decision making in hidden profile tasks. Previous research on hidden profiles – a paradigm in joint decision making – has established that when group members are provided with different informational subsets, they fail to achieve their full potential. If members considered all information they are provided with in equal measure, they would come to the best decision alternative. However, instead of being equally open to all relevant information, members show a confirmation bias. They evaluate information in a way that confirms their own informational subset and rather chose an inferior decision alternative. In extrapolating shared present moment awareness using mindfulness (i.e. present moment awareness), this dissertation investigates whether mindfulness or a certain part of mindfulness enhances joint decision making. In a first step, the influence of a classic mindfulness meditation on computer mediated decision making was tested. In Study 1, mindfulness meditation was tested in a decision making task via computer-simulated negotiation, in Study 2 in a computer mediated joint decision making task of a hidden profile. Across both studies, mindfulness was detrimental to performance. Findings indicate that mindfulness meditation is not an intervention to be used in computer mediated joint decision making. In a second step, the impact of openness to multiple perspectives on dyads solving a hidden profile task was examined. Openness to multiple perspectives is a component of mindfulness and seems to be a principal factor of successful joint decision making. In two studies openness to multiple perspectives was found to improve the outcome of a joint decision making task. In Study 3, the joint consideration of multiple valid perspectives improved the outcome of the task compared to the mere negotiation of positions. In Study 4, besides the joint consideration of multiple perspectives, sequentially realizing on an individual level that there is still another perspective than the initial one improved the performance, compared to immediately dealing with two perspectives. The findings demonstrate that when individuals change their way of looking at things, by either accepting the validity of multiple perspectives on a social level or by accepting the validity of another perspective than the initial one, their performance gets improved. In using mindfulness in an interpersonal context we extrapolated social psychological research with psychoanalytical conceptualizations. More specifically, openness to multiple perspectives seems to be an important cognitive mechanism inherent in mindfulness and a successful factor in joint decision making. The present research has several practical implications. First, mindfulness should not be applied as an intervention for improving decision making via computer mediation. Second, in individual and joint decision making, persons should “make a step back” and search actively for alternative points of view.Im Rahmen der Dissertation werden Bedingungen untersucht, die Entscheidungen verbessern können. Vor dem Hintergrund des intersubjektivistischen Ansatzes der Psychoanalyse wird untersucht, ob Achtsamkeit oder eine Komponente von Achtsamkeit die Qualität gemeinsamer Entscheidungen in hidden profiles verbessert. Im Forschungsparadigma des hidden profiles wurde bisher gezeigt, dass wenn Gruppenmitglieder über unterschiedliche Informationen verfügen, diese unter ihren Leistungsmöglichkeiten bleiben. Wenn Mitglieder alle zur Verfügung gestellten Informationen gleichmäßig berücksichtigen würden, kämen sie zu einer besseren Entscheidung. Jedoch zeigen Gruppenmitglieder, statt offen für die relevanten Informationen eines anderen zu sein, einen Bestätigungsfehler (engl. confirmation bias). Informationen werden so ausgewählt, dass sie die eigenen Informationen bestätigen. In der Folge wird eine schlechtere Entscheidung getroffen. In der Dissertation wird untersucht, ob die gemeinsame Ausrichtung der Aufmerksamkeit auf einen gegenwärtigen Moment durch Achtsamkeit (engl. mindfulness) oder eine Komponente von Achtsamkeit gemeinsames Entscheiden verbessert. In einem ersten Schritt wurde in zwei Studien der Einfluss einer klassischen Achtsamkeitsübung auf computervermittelte Entscheidungen überprüft. In Studie 1 wurde der Einfluss einer Meditationsübung auf Entscheidungen in einer computervermittelten Verhandlung untersucht, in Studie 2 auf eine computervermittelte gemeinsame Entscheidungsaufgabe. Über beide Studien hinweg verringerte Achtsamkeit die Leistung. Die Ergebnisse lassen darauf schließen, dass Achtsamkeit bei computervermittelten gemeinsamen Entscheidungen nicht die Intervention der Wahl ist. In einem zweiten Schritt wurde der Einfluss von Offenheit für multiple Perspektiven auf von Dyaden gemeinsame getroffene Entscheidungen in einem hidden profile untersucht. Offenheit für multiple Perspektiven ist dabei eine Komponente von Achtsamkeit und scheint auch ein zentrales Element bei erfolgreichen Gruppenentscheidungen zu sein. In zwei Studien wurde herausgefunden, dass Offenheit für multiple Perspektiven die Qualität der gemeinsam getroffenen Entscheidungen verbessert. In Studie 3 verbesserte das gemeinsame Betrachten von mehreren gültigen Perspektiven, verglichen mit dem bloßen Verhandeln von Positionen, die Aufgabenleistung. In Studie 4 führte, neben dem gemeinsamen Betrachten von mehreren gültigen Perspektiven, das sequentielle Realisieren, dass es noch eine andere Perspektive als die ursprüngliche gibt, auf individueller Ebene, verglichen mit der sofortigen Zugänglichkeit beider Perspektiven zu besseren Leistungen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass wenn Personen die Art und Weise verändern, wie sie Dinge betrachten, indem sie auf sozialer Ebene die inhaltliche Gültigkeit von mehreren Perspektiven akzeptieren oder auf individueller Ebene die Validität einer anderen Perspektive als die ursprüngliche, sich die Leistung verbessert. Indem Achtsamkeit in einem interpersonalen Kontext untersucht wurde, wurden psychoanalytische Konzepte auf sozialpsychologische Forschung übertragen. Offenheit für multiple Perspektiven scheint ein wichtiger kognitiver Mechanismus innerhalb von Achtsamkeit als auch zugrundeliegender Faktor bei erfolgreichen gemeinsamen Entscheidungen zu sein. Die Forschungsergebnisse haben mehrere praktische Implikationen. Zum einen sollte bei computervermittelten Entscheidungen Achtsamkeit nicht als Intervention verwendet werden. Zum anderen sollten Personen bei individuellen oder gemeinsamen Entscheidungen „einen Schritt zurück machen“ und bewusst nach alternativen Sichtweisen suchen

IT Interruptions in Project Environments: A Taxonomy and Preliminary Performance Investigation

Despite the growing emergence of information technology interruptions–those interruptions that are mediated or induced by information technology–little is known about their nature and their consequences on performance. This paper develops a taxonomy of information technology interruptions and presents propositions that relate distinct interruption types and subtypes to individual performance in project environments. A qualitative inquiry of product development teams is used to deductively validate the taxonomy and propositions, and to develop new insights based on an inductive analysis. The paper contributes to research by developing a conceptualization of information technology interruptions in the context of individuals working on interdependent tasks that are nested in related projects. Also, it shows how distinct types of information technology interruptions exhibit differential effects on performance that vary from positive to negative

Acute hunger does not always undermine prosociality

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData Availability: The data that support the findings of this paper are available on the OSF website (https://osf.io/zexd7/?view_only=480593713c904397a033e751a6da7a69).It has been argued that, when they are acutely hungry, people act in self-protective ways by keeping resources to themselves rather than sharing them. In four studies, using experimental, quasi-experimental, and correlational designs (total N = 795), we examine the effects of acute hunger on prosociality in a wide variety of non-interdependent tasks (e.g. dictator game) and interdependent tasks (e.g. public goods games). While our procedures successfully increase subjective hunger and decrease blood glucose, we do not find significant effects of hunger on prosociality. This is true for both decisions incentivized with money and with food. Metaanalysis across all tasks reveals a very small effect of hunger on prosociality in noninterdependent tasks (d = .108), and a non-significant effect in interdependent tasks (d = -0.076). In study five (N = 197), we show that, in stark contrast to our empirical findings, people hold strong lay theories that hunger undermines prosociality.Volkswagen Foundatio

The New Agora: Social Media as a Vector for Sign Language as a Language of Culture, Identity and Inclusion of the Deaf

Sign Languages (SL) are necessary for the intellectual development of Deaf children. They are complete linguistic system used by the Deaf Culture for education, communication, creation and dissemination of knowledge. Arbitrarily forbidden for more than 100 years, the lack of SL artifacts is now a major problem the Deaf: there are few loci where they can interact in their own language (i.e. there are few media in SL). The recent growth in social media (virtual applications that allow the user to create and share their own content) has provided a new vector for the use of SL (whether in real time, or separated in space and time) and value SL as a Language of culture, identity and inclusion. The research surveyed Deaf students of a Bachelors program in Linguistics and shows that social media has become a new Agora for the Deaf Culture

Systemic Risk, Information Technology Artifacts, and High Reliability Organizations: A Case of Constructing a Radical Architecture

“The test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing views...at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald) In distributed, complex socio-technical systems, risks increasingly originate from multiple sources, affect multiple agents in diverse ways, and thus become systemic. The traditional linear causal model of risk control and an individual decision-maker orientation is no longer adequate to contain such risks. This paper reports a detailed case study of a highly complex architectural project by the architect Frank Gehry and his firm Gehry Partners, L.L.C. Gehry and his partners successfully used the 3D representation software Catia to construct radical architectures with dauntingly complex geometric surfaces in spite of increasing systemic risks. Our findings suggest that, in order to successfully combat such risks, organizations rely upon organizing mechanisms characteristic of high reliability organizations (HROs). Our analysis also indicates that creating and maintaining a collective mindfulness is critical for risk control and mitigation in complex socio-technical systems. IT artifacts such as Catia, in combination with other social/technical elements such as skilled workers, contracts, and communication protocols, can enable the five cognitive processes underlying collective mindfulness: preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and under-specification of structures

The Impact of Virtuality and Shared Leadership on Virtual Team Performance

Previous studies show divergent views of shared leadership in the team performance of virtual teams. In this study, we seek to understand the mediating and moderating roles of trust, commitment, and virtuality among virtual team members on performance within the context of shared leadership. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey to gather perspectives on shared leadership and performance and analysed responses through structural equation modelling. We find that there is a significant positive effect between the two and that virtuality plays a significant moderating role for virtual team performance. In addition, we find that when virtuality increases, the mediating effect of trust and commitment is not significant, which challenges previous findings

Qigong at Work: Where East Meets West

State of the Art Qigong is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) and aims to balance body and mind. The roots of Qigong lie in China, where Confucian and Daoist scholars (500-400 B.C.) noted that one must learn to balance and relax one’s thoughts and emotions to avoid illness (Yang, 1997). In the Western world, Qigong is best known for its slow and coordinated movements. According to TCM, these movements will help regulate one’s ‘qi’, or life energy, through the body to improve the health and harmony of mind and body. During the practice of Qigong, one’s breathing, attention and movement are aligned. As such, Qigong is sometimes considered Mindfulness in movement (although there are many important differences). New perspectives / contributionsQigong has many positive outcomes on health and wellness. In both patient groups and healthy individuals, Qigong has been shown to improve psychological well-being, quality of life, immune function, balance and related risk-factors, and bone density (Jahnke et al., 2010). As such, Qigong offers a validated way to reduce the physical and mental activation that results from a person's work. While recent research has demonstrated how important it is to take short breaks at work, there is still little attention for Qigong exercises as a means to recover at work.Practical Implications In this presentation, we will explain and practice several Qigong exercises. These movements can be used at work (and at home) to recover from (hormonal) activation, ‘empty’ one’s head, and restore the body-mind balance. <br/

IFPOC Symposium:Discovering antecedents and consequences of complex change recipients' reactions to organizational change.

IFPOC symposium: Discovering antecedents and consequences of complex change recipients' reactions to organizational change Chairs: Maria Vakola (Athens University of Economics and Business) &amp; Karen Van Dam (Open University) Discussant: Mel Fugate (American University, Washington, D.C) State of the art Organisations are required to continuously change and develop but there is a high failure rate associated with change implementation success. In the past two decades, change researchers have started to investigate change recipients' reactions to change recognizing the crucial role of these reactions for successful change. This symposium aims at identifying and discussing the complex processes that underlie the relationships among antecedents, reactions and outcomes associated with organizational change. New perspective / contributions This symposium consists of five studies that extend our knowledge in the field by (i) providing an analysis of change recipients' reactions going beyond the dichotomous approaches (acceptance or resistance) (ii) revealing understudied antecedents-reactions and reactions-consequences patterns and relationships (iii) shedding light on the role of contextual factors i.e team climate and individual factors i.e emotion regulation on the adaptation to change. This symposium is based on a combination of both quantitative (i.e diary, survey) and qualitative (i.e interviews) research methodology. Research / practical implications This symposium aims to increase our understanding of the complex processes associated with change recipients' reactions to change. Discovering how these reactions are created and what are their results may reveal important contingencies that can explain how positive organizational outcomes during times of change can be stimulated which is beneficial for both researchers and practitioners

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills