Adaptive strategy selection in decision making.

Abstract

The authors examine the role of effort and accuracy in the adaptive use of decision processes. A computer simulation study that used the concept of elementary information processes identified heuristic choice strategies which approximate the accuracy of normative procedures while requiring substantially less effort. However, no single heuristic did well across all task and context conditions. Of particular interest was the finding that under time constraints, several heuristics were clearly more accurate than a normative procedure. Two process tracing studies showed a significant degree of correspondence between the efficient strategies for a given decision problem identified by the simulation and actual decision behavior. People were highly adaptive to changes in the nature of the alternatives available to them and to the presence of time pressure. (Author)