Decision space structure and its influence upon Post-Decisional Confidence

Abstract

All decisions are inevitably accompanied by a certain degree of confidence. It is assumed that during a compensatory-multi-attribute utility decision process, a cognitive structure, named Decision Space (DS) is formed. This includes cognitive representations of the offered alternatives and of an “ideal” alternative in the form of sets of meaning values. Psychological distances can be “calculated” among all the alternatives. It is hypothesized that Post-Decisional Confidence (PDC) is dependent upon DS structure. PDC is higher when the distance of the chosen alternative from the “ideal” alternative (δ) is minimal, and when the distances of the non-chosen alternatives from the “ideal” alternative (δ) is maximal. 46 subjects participated in a decision-making experiment designed to test this hypothesis. The results supported our hypothesis. It was also found that d and δ have differing degrees of influence on PDC, and that this differential influence is dependent upon the relevance of each for the specific decision. Some theoretical implications of DS were discussed.