Impact of cognitive style on group decision and negotiation

Numerous studies on group decision and negotiation have focused on the influence of the cognitive style of decision makers. Using number of instruments such as Kirton Adaption Innovation (KAI), Cognitive Style Index (CSI), Kolb Learning Style Inventory (KLS), Belbin team role self‐perception inventory, or the well-known Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), studies explore relationships between different dimensions of the personality traits of the individuals and the performance of group decisions. The results are very heterogeneous and sometimes contradictory, depending in particular on the decision contexts explored (strategic decision or not, etc.) and the type of measurement and proxy used to identify the cognitive style. When cognitive diversity is the variable used in these researches, it is no longer the influence of an individual cognitive style on the decision that becomes the object of study but the fact that several styles are represented among the members of a group of decision makers. Looking for an integrative group of decision makers, as it is finally proposed in this chapter through a cognitive mapping-based method, is then a way to increase group decision performance

Diseases and Mortalities of Fishes and Other Animals In the Gulf of Mexico

Most mortality results from natural causes including red tide which is primarily restricted to West Florida and cold-kills that have greater influence in the warmer regions of South Texas and South Florida, but also kill a significant amount of fish and other animals in the northern Gulf. With the exception of red tide and other harmful algal blooms, the health of the Gulf has not been systematically studied. Mexico has only recently started to evaluate the health of its coastlines. Mortalities of marine animals, particularly fishes, in the Gulf caused by natural and anthropogenic events seem to interact with infectious disease agents and noninfectious diseases, but the mortalities are often attributed to the disease agents alone. “Events” that cause mortalities include eutrophication; hypoxia; algal blooms; temperature, salinity, and weather extremes; and chemical and sediment pollution. “Diseases” include those caused by infectious agents, parasites, neoplasms, and developmental abnormalities. Interactions of the effects of diseases and stressful events are considered important but little investigated