When Thinking Rationally Increases Biases: The Role of Rational Thinking Style in Escalation of Commitment

The Role of Social Problem-Solving and Prosocial Behavior in First Aid Willingness among Adolescents in Hungary

First aid is a key factor in preventing further deterioration in an accident, saving lives, or improving treatment in emergencies. However, the reasons behind the willingness to provide first aid are still unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the role of social problem-solving and prosocial behavior in the dimension of first aid willingness. Self-administered questionnaires were used to evaluate the dimensions of first aid willingness (first aid willingness for peers, first aid willingness for strangers, knowledge, and negative emotions), social problem solving (positive problem orientation, negative problem orientation, rational problem solving, avoidance style, and impulsivity/carelessness) and prosocial behavior. A total of 497 school-aged students between the ages of 12 and 15 years (201 boys and 296 girls) participated in this study. Our results showed that positive problem orientation (p < 0.05) and rational problem solving (p < 0.001) are significant factors in determining first aid willingness for both peers and strangers. On the other hand, avoidance style orientation (p < 0.05) has a negative influence on the willingness to provide first aid to peers and strangers. Negative problem orientation (p < 0.001) only predicted negative emotions related to emergencies. Furthermore, prosocial behavior (p < 0.001) was more strongly associated with first aid willingness than social problem solving. Our study suggested that improving social competence could be a key factor in increasing first aid provision in real time, which could save lives in emergencies.

PATH ANALYSIS ON ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT OF INVESTORS IN DIFFERENT PROJECT SCENARIOS OF PPPS

In public-private partnerships (PPPs), escalation of commitment (EOC) of investors often occurs when receiving negative feedback, leading to a great waste of resources and not conducive to the sustainable development of PPPs. The degree of project completion and decision-making responsibilities of investors with different conscientiousness and neuroticism may affect subsequent resource allocation and further influence their escalation behaviour. Thus, through scenario simulation, this paper constructs path analysis to illustrate the formation mechanism of EOC by investors with diverse conscientiousness and neuroticism in different degrees of decision-making responsibilities and project completion, in which confidence in completing the projects may present a mediating effect. The empirical results show that completion degree and decision-making responsibilities both positively affect investors’ EOC and that the interaction is significant. The impact mechanism of conscientiousness and neuroticism on EOC varies in different project scenarios. Then, some targeted recommendations are proposed to curb EOC. The findings provide scientific evidence for governments to conduct effective governance of EOC in PPPs.

VALUE OF INVESTORS’ ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT IN PPP PROJECTS USING REAL OPTION THINKING

Escalation of commitment (EOC) is a common behavior among investors who receive negative feedback (NF) in public-private partnership (PPP) projects, and this behavior typically leads to sizable losses. Recognizing this, investors set a mental threshold and track investments for escalation. Once losses reach the threshold, investors will terminate the escalation behavior, namely, they will transfer projects to governments to obtain compensation or residual asset value. This paper analyzes the maximum amount of NF that investors can sustain based on a belief-adjustment model, followed by the analysis of the greatest loss degree. Then, a threshold model for EOC is constructed using real option thinking. Different from the usual judgment criteria of the traditional option method, the threshold is less than zero in the EOC scenario. The results show that the threshold correlates with the initial generative cognition, the sunk cost level, the degree of the government guarantee and investors’ behavioral preferences as well as with total investment and return on investment. These findings serve as a reference for governments to de-escalate investors’ commitment in PPP projects.

Process Accountability as a De-Escalation Technique

Abstract. Escalation of commitment occurs when a course of action is continued despite repeated drawbacks (e.g., maintaining an employment relationship despite severe performance problems). We analyze process accountability (PA) as a de-escalation technique that helps to discontinue a failing course of action and show how time moderates both the behavioral and cognitive processes involved: (1) Because sound decisions should be based on (hopefully unbiased) information search, which requires time to gather, the effect of PA on de-escalation increases over time. (2) Because continuing information search creates behavioral commitment, the debiasing effect of PA on information search diminishes over time. (3) Consistent with the tunnel vision notion, the effects of less biased information search on de-escalation decrease over time.

Taking the Biggest First: Age Differences in Preferences for Monetary and Hedonic Sequences

OBJECTIVES

People face decisions about how to sequence payments and events, including when to schedule bigger events relative to smaller ones. We examine age differences in these sequence preferences.

METHODS

We gave a national adult life-span sample (n = 1,296, mean = 53.06 years, standard deviation = 16.33) four scenarios describing a positive or negative hedonic (enjoyable weekends, painful dental procedures) or monetary (receiving versus paying money) event. We considered associations among age, sequence preferences, three self-reported decision-making processes-emphasizing experience, emotion, and reasoning-and two dimensions of future time perspective-focusing on future opportunities and limited time.

RESULTS

Older age was associated with taking the "biggest" event sooner instead of later, especially for receiving money, but also for the other three scenarios. Older age was associated with greater reported use of reason and experience and lesser reported use of emotion. These decision-making processes played a role in understanding age differences in sequence preferences, but future time perspective did not.

DISCUSSION

We discuss "taking the biggest first" preferences in light of prior mixed findings on age differences in sequence preferences. We highlight the distinct roles of experience- and emotion-based decision-making processes. We propose applications to financial and health-care settings.

Deep-Level Team Composition and Innovation

This study proposes and tests a process model linking deep-level team composition and innovation. Two cognitive styles, sequential thinking and connective thinking, are the deep-level team attributes hypothesized to affect team innovation. Psychological safety and cooperative learning are hypothesized to link cognitive styles and innovation at the team level. Findings from a sample of 83 natural innovation teams with dual-source data indicate that sequential thinking contributes to decreases in team innovation by inhibiting psychological safety, while connective thinking helps improve team innovation through increased cooperative learning. Implications for research and practice are discussed.