Abstract
When making decisions, people have been found predominantly to seek information supporting their preferred choice and to neglect conflicting information. In this article, the authors investigate to what extent different types of advisors, who recommend a choice to someone or make a decision on behalf of someone, show the same confirmatory information search. In Experiment 1, the authors presented participants, in the role of advisors, with a client's decision problem and found that when making a recommendation, advisors conducted a more balanced information search than participants who were making a decision for themselves. However, advisors who had to make a decision on behalf of their clients revealed an increased preference for information supporting their position. Experiment 2 suggested that this confirmatory information search was caused by impression motivation: The advisors bolstered their decision to justify it to the client. The results are discussed within the multiple motive framework of the heuristic systematic model.
Highlights
For another person behave differently in comparison to situations in which they make a decision for themselves (Jonas & Frey, 2003; Kray, 2000; Kray & Gonzalez, 1999)
Going beyond the Jonas and Frey findings, the experiment suggested that advisors who made a binding decision on behalf of their client differed in their information search from advisors making a recommendation
Advisors making a binding decision for their client tended to exhibit an even stronger confirmation bias than people deciding for themselves. This finding illustrates that the change in perspective—searching for information for one’s own decision versus for the decision problem of another person—did not necessarily have a unidirectional influence on the information search
Summary
For another person behave differently in comparison to situations in which they make a decision for themselves (Jonas & Frey, 2003; Kray, 2000; Kray & Gonzalez, 1999). Research on individual and group decision making suggests that during the process of making a decision, people often predominantly seek information that is consistent with their preferred alternative (e.g., Frey, 1986; Jonas, SchulzHardt, Frey, & Thelen, 2001; Schulz-Hardt, Frey, Lüthgens, & Moscovici, 2000). We refer to the preference for supporting over conflicting information as “confirmation bias” (cf. Schulz-Hardt et al, 2000)
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