Socially Conscious Decision Making

For individually motivated agents to work collaboratively to satisfy shared goals, they must make decisions about actions and intentions that take into account their commitments to group activities. This paper examines the role of social consciousness in the process of reconciling intentions to do group-related actions with other, conflicting intentions. We operationalize the notion of social consciousness and provide a first attempt to formally add social consciousness to a cooperative decision-making model. We define a measure of social consciousness; describe its incorporation into the SPIRE experimental system, a simulation environment that allows the process of intention reconciliation in team contexts to be studied; and present results of several experiments that investigate the interaction in decision-making of measures of group and individual good. In particular, we investigate the effect of varying levels of social consciousness on the utility of the group and the individuals it comprises. A key finding is that an intermediate level of social consciousness yields better results in certain circumstances than an extreme commitment. We suggest preliminary principles for designers of collaborative agents based on the results.Engineering and Applied Science

Kvalioista laatuarvioihin : subjektiivinen kokemus, tietoinen ajattelu ja kuinka päätökset selitetään

Academic psychology has traditionally considered subjective explanations for judgments and decisions unreliable or even fabricated. Additionally, explanations have been shown to interfere with judgment and decision making processes, which can degrade the quality of choices. These phenomena have been attributed to the lack of conscious access to the decision making processes. Explaining is assumed to shift the processing from the non-conscious mode into a more verbalized and conscious mode, leading to either fabrication or interference. This dissertation examines these effects by assuming that subjective experience is a highly relevant intermediate processing stage in decision making, whereas subjective explanations reflect the contents of socially oriented conscious thought, which originates from the metacognitive understanding related to the judgment and decision-making processes. When subjective experience and conscious thought are dissociated, interference or fabrication can occur. The dissertation presents the ideas underlying the Interpretation-Based Quality (IBQ) method, which emphasizes the special nature of subjective experience in judgments and decisions: Every individual has his or her own subjective point of view, from which the world is interpreted. In the context of preferential judgment and decision making, these differences between individuals, arising from different ways of experiencing the world, are easily regarded as measurement error. The IBQ method approaches these differences by asking research participants to explain their decisions in their own words. These explanations have been further analyzed qualitatively in order to find the relevant subjective dimensions on which decisions are based. As subjective explanations are used as data, the use of the IBQ method must respond to claims concerning unreliability, fabrication and interference. Therefore, four studies were conducted to test these claims in the evaluation of high image quality. As explaining has been found to shift processing into a more conscious mode, these studies also inform about the role of conscious thought in judgments and decisions. The general finding of this research was that conscious thought, evoked by the requirement to explain judgments, can also enhance the decision maker’s performance in cases that require tradeoffs, effortful information search and consistency over several decisions. The results suggest that when conscious thought and subjective experience work in concert, subjective explanations can provide highly useful qualitative data about the dimensions of subjective experience that are relevant in judgments and decisions. These dimensions are dependent on personal and contextual factors and cannot be predicted from physical data alone. The importance of conscious thought in decision making appears to be its ability to bring relevant information into consciousness by means of voluntary attention. This happens particularly in conflicts and when the decisions are novel. In these situations conscious thought and an analytic approach is activated automatically. This mechanism derives from metacognitive understanding, which is learned gradually in similar judgment and decision-making situations.Akateemisen psykologian piirissä on perinteisesti suhtauduttu skeptisesti selityksille, joita ihmiset antavat päätöksilleen: Niitä ei pidetä vain epäluotettavina vaan suorastaan tekaistuina. Lisäksi päätösten selittämisen on todettu vaikuttavan häiritsevästi itse päätöksentekoprosessiin. Näiden ilmiöiden on oletettu johtuvan siitä, ettei ihminen pääse kiinni pääosin tiedostamattomiin päätöksentekoprosesseihin. Tästä seurauksena voi olla tekaistu selitys, joka ei kerro alkuperäisestä prosessista, tai huonompi päätös, joka perustuu helpommin perusteltaviin syihin. Tämä väitöskirja tarkastelee kyseisiä ilmiöitä kuvanlaadun arvioinnin kontekstissa, olettaen että subjektiivisen kokemus on olennainen välivaihe matalan tason havaintoprosessien ja varsinaisen päätöksen välillä. Selitykset päätöksille taas heijastelevat tietoista ajattelua, jonka ajatellaan olevan sosiaalista todellisuutta heijasteleva korkeamman asteen tietoisuuden muoto. Tietoinen ajattelu pohjaa päätöstilanteiden metakognitiiviseen ymmärtämiseen. Jos tietoisen ajattelun yhteys subjektiiviseen kokemukseen ei toimi kunnolla, selittämisen aiheuttama prosessin muutos voi häiritä päätöksiä tai johtaa tekaistuihin selityksiin. Väitöskirjassa esitellään tulkintaan perustuva laatu -lähestymistapa (Interpretation-Based Quality, lyh. IBQ), joka korostaa subjektiivisen kokemuksen erityistä luonnetta päätöksenteossa: subjektiivinen kokemus syntyy aina yksilöllisestä näkökulmasta, jonka kautta maailmaa tulkitaan. Jos nämä tulkinnat eivät ole tutkijan tiedossa, yksilöiden väliset erot tulkitaan helposti mittausvirheeksi. IBQ lähestyy näitä eroja pyytämällä koehenkilöitä kuvaamaan perusteluja tekemilleen päätöksille omin sanoin. Perustelut analysoidaan laadullisesti, jotta pystytään kuvaamaan koehenkilöiden päätöksenteon kannalta olennaiset ulottuvuudet. Koska tutkimusaineistona käytetään subjektiivisia selityksiä päätöksille, on IBQ-menetelmän vastattava kyseisiin tutkimusmenetelmiin liittyvään kritiikkiin koskien perustelujen luotettavuutta ja niiden vaikutusta alkuperäiseen päätöksentekoprosessiin. Tämän vuoksi suoritettiin neljä tutkimusta, joissa tarkasteltiin ko. väitteisiin liittyviä tutkimuskysymyksiä. Tutkimusten avulla on mahdollista myös ymmärtää tietoisen ajattelun merkitystä aistinvaraisissa päätöksissä. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että päätösten perusteleminen ja siihen liittyvä tietoinen ajattelu voi myös parantaa päätöksentekijän suoriutumista, kun päätös vaatii kompromisseja vaihtoehtojen eri ominaisuuksien välillä, tahdonalaista tiedonhakua tai yhdenmukaisuutta eri päätösten välillä. Tulokset osoittavat, että kun tietoinen ajattelu ja subjektiivinen kokemus ovat sopusoinnussa, subjektiiviset perustelut päätöksille voivat tuottaa hyödyllistä tietoa olennaisista päätöksentekoulottuvuuksista. Nämä ulottuvuudet ovat riippuvaisia yksilö- ja kontekstitekijöistä eikä niitä ole mahdollista ennustaa fysikaalisesta informaatiosta. Tietoisen ajattelun merkitys päätöksenteossa näyttäisi olevan tahdonalaisen tarkkaavaisuuden avulla tuoda päätöksen kannalta olennainen informaatio tietoisuuteen. Näin todennäköisesti tapahtuu erityisesti konflikteissa ja kun päätös on yksilölle uusi

Відповідальність прийняття рішень на засадах корпоративної соціальної відповідальності

Company decision-makers increasingly have to confront with the expectations of their closer or extended community, also that of their environment in connection with the consequences of their business-decisions. On the other hand, they must represent the interests of their proprietors and must also sustain profitable economy. The author reviews those factors which have a significant impact on socially responsible decision-making process, concerning the decision-makers, the company and the outer environment. The author answers to the question of what the specialities of such decisions are and in what direction the attitude of economic entities develop, concerning socially responsible operation. The author proved that corporate social responsibility (CSR in short form) manifests itself in a growing and expanding measure in the activities of corporations and business structures, on the one hand, as an expectation in connection with their courses, on the other hand, such a factor if fai ls, can make long-term competitiveness worse. Decisions related to CSR are strategic decisions, so they are made at the highest lev el. The personality, leadership style and self-assessment of the decision maker play a decisive role in the process of the influence of external expectations regarding CSR on organizational decisions. In addition, the size of the company, the regional location, the surrounding national culture, the social system and traditions also have a significant influence on socially responsible decisions. The described article/presentation/study was carried out as part of the EFOP-3.6.1-16-00011 “Younger and Renewing University – Innovative Knowledge City – institutional development of the University of Miskolc aiming at intelligent specialisation” project implemented in the frame work of the Szechenyi 2020 program. The realization of this project is supported by the European Union, co-financed by the European Social Fund.Керівникам компаній все частіше доводиться стикатися з очікуваннями їхньої ближчої або розширеної спільноти, а також з їхнім оточенням у зв'язку з наслідками своїх бізнес-рішень. З іншого боку, вони повинні представляти інтереси своїх власників і повинні також підтримувати прибуткову економіку. Автор розглядає ті фактори, які мають значний вплив на соціально відповідальний процес прийняття рішень, що стосується осіб, які приймають рішення, компанії та зовнішнього середовища. Автор відповідає на питання, що таке особливості таких рішень і в якому напрямку розвивається ставлення суб'єктів господарювання до соціально відповідальної діяльності. Автор довів, що корпоративна соціальна відповідальність (КСВ в короткій формі) проявляється в зростаючому і зростаючому вимірі діяльності корпорацій і бізнеc-структур, з одного боку, як очікування у зв'язку з їх курсами, з іншого боку, фактор, якщо це не вдається, може погіршити довгострокову конкурентоспроможність. Рішення, пов'язані з КСВ, є стратегічними рішенн ями, тому вони приймаються на найвищому рівні. Особистість, стиль лідерства та самооцінка особи, яка приймає рішення, відіграють вирішальну роль у процесі впливу зовнішніх очікувань щодо КСВ на організаційні рішення. Крім того, розмір компанії, регіональне розташування, навколишнє національна культура, соціальна система і традиції також мають значний вплив на соціально відповідальні рішення. Описана стаття / презентація / дослідження було проведено в рамках проекту EFOP-3.6.1-16-00011 «Молодший та оновлюваний університет - місто інноваційних знань - інституційний розвиток Мішкольцького університету з метою інтелектуальної спеціалізації», реалізований в рамках проекту програми «Сечені 2020». Реалізацію цього проекту підтримує Європейський Союз, який фінансується Європейським соціальним фондом

Institutions for Intuitive Man

By its critics, the rational choice model is routinely accused of being unrealistic. One key objection has it that, for all nontrivial problems, calculating the best response is cognitively way too taxing, given the severe cognitive limitations of the human mind. If one confines the analysis to consciously controlled decision-making, this criticism is certainly warranted. But it ignores a second mental apparatus. Unlike conscious deliberation, this apparatus does not work serially but in parallel. It handles huge amounts of information in almost no time. It only is not consciously accessible. Only the end result is propelled back to consciousness as an intuition. It is too early to decide whether the rational choice model is ultimately even descriptively correct. But at any rate institutional analysts and institutional designers are well advised to take this powerful mechanisms seriously. In appropriate contexts, institutions should see to it that decision-makers trust their intuitions. This frequently creates a dilemma. For better performance is often not the only goal pursued by institutional intervention. Accountability, predictability and regulability are also desired. Sometimes, clever interventions are able to get them both. Arguably, the obligation to write an explicit set of reasons for a court decision is a case in point. The judge is not obliged to report the mental processes by which she has taken her decision. Justification is only ex post control. Intuitive decision-making is even more desirable if the underlying social problem is excessively complex (NP hard, to be specific), or ill-defined. Sometimes, it is enough for society to give room for intuitive decision-making. For instance, in simple social dilemmas, a combination of cheater detection and punishing sentiments does the trick. However, intuition can be misled. For instance, punishing sentiments are triggered by a hurt sense of fairness. Now in more complex social dilemmas, there are competing fairness norms, and people intuitively choose with a self-serving bias. In such contexts, institutions must step in so that clashing intuitions do not lead to social unrest.intuition, consciousness, rational choice, heuristics, ill-defined social problems, institutions

Philanthropy: A Gift or Investment?

CAF latest report on philanthropic habits, "Philanthropy A gift or investment?", reveals striking differences in approaches to giving between generations. This snapshot explores the attitudes and behaviour of wealthy donors, with the means to make strategic choices about how they support the causes they care about.Two-thirds of the people surveyed described themselves as active, socially-conscious investors, rising to four out of five among those under 40 years old. Their findings suggest that this younger generation especially are widely engaged in 'values-based' investment approaches, which fit their ethical outlook or aim to balance social and financial returns

Moral Intuitions and Organizational Culture

Many efforts to understand and respond to a succession of corporate scandals over the last few years have underscored the importance of organizational culture in shaping the behavior of individuals. This focus reflects appreciation that even if an organization has adopted elaborate rules and policies designed to ensure legal compliance and ethical behavior, those pronouncements will be ineffective if other norms and incentives promote contrary conduct. Responding to the call for creating and sustaining an ethical culture in organizations requires appreciating the subtle ways in which various characteristics of an organization may work in tandem or at cross-purposes in shaping behavior. The idea is to identify the influences likely to be most important, analyze how people are apt to respond to them, and revise them if necessary so that they create the right kinds of incentives when individuals are deciding how to act. This can be a tall order even if we assume that most behavior is the result of a deliberative process that weighs multiple risks and rewards. It’s even more daunting if we accept the notion that conscious deliberation typically plays but a minor role in shaping behavior. A focus on what two scholars describe as “the unbearable automaticity of being” posits that most of a person’s everyday life is determined not by conscious intentions and deliberate choices but by mental processes outside of conscious awareness. In this article, I discuss a particular strand of research that is rooted in the study of non-conscious mental processes, and consider its implications for ethics and culture in the organizational setting. This is work on the process that we use to identify and respond to situations that raise what we think of as distinctly moral questions. A growing body of research suggests that a large portion of this process involves automatic non-conscious cognitive and emotional reactions rather than conscious deliberation. One way to think of these reactions is that they reflect reliance on moral intuitions. When such intuitions arise, we don’t engage in moral reasoning in order to arrive at a conclusion. Instead, we do so in order to justify a conclusion that we’ve already reached. In other words, moral conclusions precede, rather than follow, moral reasoning. If this research accurately captures much of our moral experience, what does it suggest about what’s necessary to foster an ethical organizational culture? At first blush, the implications seem unsettling. The non-conscious realm is commonly associated with irrational and arbitrary impulses, and morality often is characterized as the hard-won achievement of reason over these unruly forces. If most of our moral judgments are the product of non-conscious processes, how can we hope to understand, much less influence, our moral responses? Are moral reactions fundamentally inscrutable and beyond appeals to reason? If reason has no persuasive force, does appreciation of the non-conscious source of our moral judgments suggest that any effort to promote ethical conduct must rest on a crude behaviorism that manipulates penalties and rewards? I believe that acknowledging the prominent role of non-conscious processes in shaping moral responses need not inevitably lead either to fatalism or Skinnerian behaviorism. Research has begun to shed light on how these processes operate. Related work has suggested how our moral responses may be rooted in human evolution. This perspective focuses on the ways in which our capacity for moral judgment is embedded in physical and mental processes that have provided an adaptive advantage in human evolution. These bodies of research contribute to a richer portrait of human cognition and behavior that can be valuable in thinking about how to promote ethical awareness and conduct. As Owen Flanagan has put it, “seeing clearly the kinds of persons we are is a necessary condition for any productive ethical reflection.” If there were such a thing as a normative theory of human movement, it would be futile if it exhorted us to fly. Efforts to create an organizational culture that encouraged people to fly would be doomed as well. In thinking about ethics, we need to have a sense of what lies between simply accommodating what we tend to do and demanding that we fly. My hope is that this article takes a small step in that direction

Consumption in action. Mapping consumerism in international academic literature

The consumer-citizen and more generally, the emergence of active forms of citizenship mediated by consumption point to a change in the relations of production, consumption and distribution. These forms of citizenship come to encompass opposite poles of consumption such as hedonism and social responsibility. When consumption choices are associated with the social and environmental issues connected to manufacturing and distribution processes, the space claimed by the active consumer comes to represents a form of social identity recognition. This \u2018political\u2019 sphere, made up of individual and/or collective claims mediated by consumer society comes in the wake of a long period of market de-politicization. On the basis of these assumptions, this article surveys and evaluates the topics related to critical consumption that are most discussed in the social sciences. Such forms of socially oriented consumption \u2013 enacted in the form of individual or collective consumer choices \u2013 represent a new form of political participation and are understood as practices of active-citizenship promotion. The findings of this article are based on data gathered from 478 peer-reviewed articles published between 2004 and 2013. The articles were selected from Scopus on the basis of their broad connection to critical consumerism and forms of socially oriented consumerism. A software-based content analysis run through T-Lab software was used to generate an analytical model of the main research axis of the most recent international literature on these arguments. The heterogeneous body of scholarly literature on socially oriented consumption reflects the rich diversity of perspectives adopted to understand the political and ethical role of consumers in contemporary societies

"Why Don't Consumers Care about CSR?" - A Qualitative Study Exploring the Role of CSR in Consumption Decisions. Empirical Paper

There is an unresolved paradox concerning the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in consumer behavior. On the one hand, consumers demand more and more CSR information from corporations. On the other hand, research indicates a considerable gap between consumers' apparent interest in CSR and the limited role of CSR in purchase behavior. This paper attempts to shed light on this paradox by drawing on qualitative data from in-depth interviews. The findings show that the evaluation of CSR initiatives is a complex and hierarchically-structured process, where consumers distinguish between core, central, and peripheral factors. This paper describes these factors in detail and explains the complexity of consumers' assessment of CSR. These insights then serve as a basis for discussing the theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings. To this end, the paper contributes to a better understanding of the role of CSR in consumption decisions