Strategic Information Processing Research Articles

The cognitive and perceptual correlates of ideological attitudes: a data-driven approach.

Although human existence is enveloped by ideologies, remarkably little is understood about the relationships between ideological attitudes and psychological traits. Even less is known about how cognitive dispositions—individual differences in how information is perceived and processed— sculpt individuals' ideological worldviews, proclivities for extremist beliefs and resistance (or receptivity) to evidence. Using an unprecedented number of cognitive tasks (n = 37) and personality surveys (n = 22), along with data-driven analyses including drift-diffusion and Bayesian modelling, we uncovered the specific psychological signatures of political, nationalistic, religious and dogmatic beliefs. Cognitive and personality assessments consistently outperformed demographic predictors in accounting for individual differences in ideological preferences by 4 to 15-fold. Furthermore, data-driven analyses revealed that individuals’ ideological attitudes mirrored their cognitive decision-making strategies. Conservatism and nationalism were related to greater caution in perceptual decision-making tasks and to reduced strategic information processing, while dogmatism was associated with slower evidence accumulation and impulsive tendencies. Religiosity was implicated in heightened agreeableness and risk perception. Extreme pro-group attitudes, including violence endorsement against outgroups, were linked to poorer working memory, slower perceptual strategies, and tendencies towards impulsivity and sensation-seeking—reflecting overlaps with the psychological profiles of conservatism and dogmatism. Cognitive and personality signatures were also generated for ideologies such as authoritarianism, system justification, social dominance orientation, patriotism and receptivity to evidence or alternative viewpoints; elucidating their underpinnings and highlighting avenues for future research. Together these findings suggest that ideological worldviews may be reflective of low-level perceptual and cognitive functions.This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms’.

If-then planning

ABSTRACT The self-regulation strategy of forming implementation intentions has now been studied for almost 30 years. We trace the development of this research and explicate the questions that have been addressed. We then present current research that investigates the consequences of implementation intentions for flexible goal striving, behaviour in situations for which one had not planned, and neuropsychological processes underlying the action control by implementation intentions. Next, we turn to novel applications focusing on how implementation intentions affect physical endurance and promote strategic information processing. Our review concludes with an outlook on future research on implementation intentions that covers emerging individual difference perspectives, innovative approaches to characterize underlying cognitive processes, and the prospects of integrating insights from related fields of research. As such, our review is an empathic call for addressing the many intriguing conceptual and empirical questions that still revolve around implementation intentions.

Undergraduate Students' Critical Online Reasoning-Process Mining Analysis.

To successfully learn using open Internet resources, students must be able to critically search, evaluate and select online information, and verify sources. Defined as critical online reasoning (COR), this construct is operationalized on two levels in our study: (1) the student level using the newly developed Critical Online Reasoning Assessment (CORA), and (2) the online information processing level using event log data, including gaze durations and fixations. The written responses of 32 students for one CORA task were scored by three independent raters. The resulting score was operationalized as “task performance,” whereas the gaze fixations and durations were defined as indicators of “process performance.” Following a person-oriented approach, we conducted a process mining (PM) analysis, as well as a latent class analysis (LCA) to test whether—following the dual-process theory—the undergraduates could be distinguished into two groups based on both their process and task performance. Using PM, the process performance of all 32 students was visualized and compared, indicating two distinct response process patterns. One group of students (11), defined as “strategic information processers,” processed online information more comprehensively, as well as more efficiently, which was also reflected in their higher task scores. In contrast, the distributions of the process performance variables for the other group (21), defined as “avoidance information processers,” indicated a poorer process performance, which was also reflected in their lower task scores. In the LCA, where two student groups were empirically distinguished by combining the process performance indicators and the task score as a joint discriminant criterion, we confirmed these two COR profiles, which were reflected in high vs. low process and task performances. The estimated parameters indicated that high-performing students were significantly more efficient at conducting strategic information processing, as reflected in their higher process performance. These findings are so far based on quantitative analyses using event log data. To enable a more differentiated analysis of students’ visual attention dynamics, more in-depth qualitative research of the identified student profiles in terms of COR will be required.

Do The Investors React to Risk Management Disclosure? (an Empirical Study on Companies in Property, Real Estate, and Building Construction Industry Listed on The Indonesia Stock Exchange Period 2016 - 2018)

The purpose of this research is to examine the quality of risk management according to investor reactions in property, real estate, and building construction companies listed on Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) in 2016-2018. The reaction of investors in this research is indicated by stock returns. In addition, this research also examines wider and more complete disclosure of the company can reduce information asymmetry with investors to make investment decisions. Based on the signaling theory, companies that disclose more information will be used as good news by investors and getting a positive reaction. The population in this research are property company, real estate company, and construction building company which registered on Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) in 2016 – 2018. This research is using a sampling method (purposive judgment sampling) for getting 25 from 74 company which registered on Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) with 75 samples. This research using multiple regression analysis.The results from the research provided that the disclosure of operations risk and empowerment risk has a positive and significant effect on stock returns while strategic risk, integrity risk, and information processing and technology risks have no significant effect on stock returns. According to this result provided that more disclosure on operations risk management and the risk of corporate empowerment can affect stock returns as a form of investor reaction, while the things that companies need to pay attention to in voluntary disclosure as additional are influence of strategic risk disclosure, integrity risk, and information processing and technology risks.

Attachment and autobiographical memory retrieval: Event-related potential evidence from strategic information processing.

This article presents two studies using event-related potentials combined with an autobiographical memory (AM) retrieval task and a lexical judge task to explore differences in AM retrieval among differently attached individuals and to further explore whether the source of these differences is the schematic information processing mode or strategic information processing mode. The effectiveness of the information processing mode is also studied. The results revealed that differences in the AM extraction of different attachment styles were due to the strategic information processing mode, while no differences were found in the schematic information processing used by individuals with different attachment styles. Further, the strategic information processing used by the securely attached group was more flexible and efficient than that used by the insecurely attached group; moreover, the strategic information processing mode used by the avoidantly attached group was more stable and consistent than that used by the anxiously attached group.

Strategic Purity and Efficiency in the Motor Carrier Industry: A Multiyear Panel Investigation

Two questions facing motor carrier managers are (1) whether carriers should specialize in providing full truckload (TL) or less‐than‐truckload (LTL) services vis‐à‐vis offering mix of both and (2) whether this decision is contingent on carrier size. Yet, the literature provides little guidance because research to date has offered contradictory theoretical predictions and inconsistent empirical findings. Drawing on the theory of strategic purity and information processing theory, we explain why service specialization is likely to increase carriers' technical efficiency and why size will have a more pronounced effect on technical efficiency for carriers specializing in LTL services versus TL services. To test our theory, we assemble a panel data set from archival government sources regarding general freight motor carriers' provision of LTL and TL services. We measure carriers' technical efficiency using data envelopment analysis and test our hypotheses by fitting a series of panel data mixed‐effects models. Our results indicate that carriers are most technically efficient when they specialize in one service type. We also find that size positively affects technical efficiency but only for carriers specializing in LTL services; no returns to scale with regard to technical efficiency exist for carriers specializing in TL services.

Strategic Information Processing from Behavioural Data in Iterated Games

Iterated games are an important framework of economic theory and application, at least since the original work of Axelrod’s computational tournaments of the early 80’s. Recent theoretical results have shown that games (the economic context) and game theory (the decision-making process) are both formally equivalent to computational logic gates. Here these results are extended to behavioural data obtained from an experiment in which rhesus monkeys sequentially played thousands of the “matching pennies” game, an empirical example similar to Axelrod’s tournaments in which algorithms played against one another. The results show that the monkeys exhibit a rich variety of behaviours, both between and within subjects when playing opponents of varying complexity. Despite earlier suggestions, there is no clear evidence that the win-stay, lose-switch strategy is used, however there is evidence of non-linear strategy-based interactions between the predictors of future choices. It is also shown that there is consistent evidence across protocols and across individuals that the monkeys extract non-markovian information, i.e., information from more than just the most recent state of the game. This work shows that the use of information theory in game theory can test important hypotheses that would otherwise be more difficult to extract using traditional statistical methods.

Cognitive Analysis of Long-Term Memory in Interpreting

With the development of the interpretation theory, the studies on interpreting have become extremely important. In view of the importance of memory in interpretation, many scholars concentrate on short-term memory research, while ignoring the important role of long-term memory in interpretation study and practice. In this paper, the author applies the findings of cognitive psychology to probe into the strategies to improve the interpreter’s long-term memory. From the perspective of cognitive psychology, interpretation is a systematic, strategic information processing process. This paper first introduces three memory systems and their characteristics, functions operations and interrelations. Then, the author analyzes the significance of long-term memory in particular, and then elaborates factors affecting long-term memory in a cognitive way. Based on this, the author proposes strategies to improve long-term memory. Finally, the author concludes that the use of these strategies can reduce the workload of restructuring, prevent mother tongue’s negative transfer, reduce the pressure of language encoding and produce more accurate and fluent target language.

The rational adolescent: Strategic information processing during decision making revealed by eye tracking

Adolescence is often viewed as a time of irrational, risky decision-making—despite adolescents’ competence in other cognitive domains. In this study, we examined the strategies used by adolescents (N=30) and young adults (N=47) to resolve complex, multi-outcome economic gambles. Compared to adults, adolescents were more likely to make conservative, loss-minimizing choices consistent with economic models. Eye-tracking data showed that prior to decisions, adolescents acquired more information in a more thorough manner; that is, they engaged in a more analytic processing strategy indicative of trade-offs between decision variables. In contrast, young adults’ decisions were more consistent with heuristics that simplified the decision problem, at the expense of analytic precision. Collectively, these results demonstrate a counter-intuitive developmental transition in economic decision making: adolescents’ decisions are more consistent with rational-choice models, while young adults more readily engage task-appropriate heuristics.

Cooperation Versus Competition Effects on Information Sharing and Use in Group Decision‐Making

AbstractInformation processing in groups has long been seen as a cooperative process. In contrast with this assumption, group members were rarely found to behave cooperatively: They withhold unshared information and stick to initial incorrect decisions. In the present article, we examined how group members' cooperative and competitive motives impact on group information processing and propose that information sharing and use in groups could be seen as strategic behavior. We reviewed the latest developments in the literature investigating different forms of strategic information processing and their underlying mechanisms. This review suggests that explicit cooperative goals are needed for effective group decision‐making.

Operational and strategic information processing: Complementing healthcare IT infrastructure

Healthcare information technologies (HIT) have been promoted as key enablers of improved patient safety, reduced medical errors, and increased patient satisfaction but have yielded mixed results. Drawing upon information processing theory and quality management concepts, we examine HIT infrastructure simultaneously with two distinct means of processing information: (1) operational use of error data for detecting and reducing hospital errors, and (2) strategic use of objective data for organizational planning. We use time-sequenced data to examine HIT infrastructure (secondary data in 2008), information processing mechanisms (primary survey data from 258 hospitals in 2009), and two measures of hospital performance: (1) care quality, and (2) patient satisfaction (secondary data in 2010). Using hierarchical regression analysis we find that whether and how investments in HIT infrastructure are complemented by information processing mechanisms depends upon the performance measure under consideration and the form of information processing employed. Specifically, operational error processing complements HIT infrastructure in its association with higher care quality but not with patient satisfaction. In comparison, higher levels of strategic information processing complement HIT infrastructure in its association with higher patient satisfaction.

Entrepreneurial Savants or Purposive Thinkers? Alertness and Deliberate Cognition as Paths to Action

When environments change, executives often respond by taking action. Prior work examining antecedents of such action has focused on strategic information processing (SIP). However, are all response...

Toward a Cognitive Resource Theory of Organisational Strategizing

We develop a new conceptual framework which seeks to account for variations in the quality of strategic information processing and decision-making among groups of executives and others involved in strategizing. Drawing on recent advances in our understanding of the nature and significance of individual differences in information processing strategies and styles we maintain that analytic and intuitive approaches to the processing of strategic information are both required as fundamental prerequisites for decision-making units - irrespective of whether these be individuals or groups - to strategize effectively. A central feature of our paper is that we identify practical courses of action for the selection and development of more effective strategy-making teams.

A 3-year longitudinal study of cognitive impairment in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis: Speed matters

The few controlled longitudinal studies of cognitive performance in MS patients all provide evidence of deterioration in at least a subset of the patients sampled. Only one of these studies has focused on primary progressive MS, and little attention has been paid to the specific domains of cognitive functioning that change over time. The present study examined three principal cognitive domains in samples of primary progressive MS patients and healthy controls followed over a period of 3 years. A battery of neuropsychological tests that included measures of strategic problem solving, verbal memory, and information processing speed was administered annually to 24 MS patients and 25 controls. MS patients' performance on measures of processing speed showed significantly greater decline over the 3-year period than did that of controls. Similar results were not observed in the case of problem solving or verbal memory. There was no evidence of more dramatic decline occurring in patients who were initially classified as cognitively impaired relative to those who were unimpaired at baseline. However, this failure may have been influenced by differential attrition from the sample; more impaired patients were less likely to complete the study. Overall the results support the contention that information processing speed is the domain most sensitive to the impact of multiple sclerosis on cognitive functioning over time.

An empirical analysis of the levers of control framework

The purpose of this paper is to use the levers of control framework to explore the antecedents of control systems – various facets of strategy that drive the use of controls; to explore the relations among control systems; and to explore the costs and benefits of control systems – costs in terms of consumption of a constrained resource (i.e., management attention) and benefits (i.e., learning). Using data from a survey of 122 Chief Financial Officers, this study tests a structural equation model that relates strategic risk and uncertainty to control systems (i.e., beliefs, boundary, diagnostic, and interactive control systems), which in turn are hypothesized to affect learning and attention, and ultimately firm performance. The evidence suggests that there are multiple inter-dependent and complementary relations among the control systems. I find that strategic risk and uncertainty drive both the importance and use of performance measures in diagnostic or interactive roles. Moreover, it appears that in certain strategic conditions information processing needs are such that firms use performance measures both interactively and diagnostically. Finally, I conclude that although there is a cost of control, there is a positive effect on firm performance.

Clinical implications of attentional bias in anxiety disorders: An integrative literature review.

Research on information processing biases has been motivated by the hope that it would lead to new and more efficient psychotherapeutic interventions. The literature is abundant with empirical data of attentional biases toward threat stimuli in anxiety disorders. This article aims to review the existing literature on the topic of attentional bias in anxiety disorders and discuss important implications for clinical practice. We adopted an integrative approach to link research data on attentional bias, information processing, and cognitive accounts (automaticity and controllability) with clinical practice in cognitive-behavioral therapy. It is important to develop and apply therapeutic interventions that can effectively reduce negative attentional biases while treating the main problems associated with anxiety disorders. However, it remains to be seen whether cognitive therapy interventions targeting more voluntary, strategic information processing can have a positive impact on automatic, involuntary processing involved in attentional biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Automatic and strategic processing of threat cues in patients with chronic pain: a modified stroop evaluation.

The goal of this study was to clarify whether patients with chronic pain selectively attend to syndrome-specific (i.e., pain-related) information and, if so, to determine whether this occurs at the conscious (i.e., strategic) or unconscious (i.e., automatic) level. This study was conducted at a tertiary care rehabilitation center. Thirty-three patients with chronic back and/or neck pain and 33 healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, and education participated in this study. A computerized version of a modified Stroop color-naming task, with unmasked and masked conditions, was used to assess strategic and automatic information processing of words related to sensory pain, affect pain, physical threat, social threat, and neutral themes. A repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that patients with chronic pain but not healthy volunteers had delayed color-naming latencies to both sensory and affect pain words in the unmasked condition. Color-naming latency differences were not evident for other word types in the unmasked condition or for any word types in the masked condition. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that the delayed color-naming latencies to pain words in the unmasked condition observed for the chronic pain patients were, in part, associated with high pain-specific cognitive anxiety and interference and lower levels of anxiety sensitivity. Individuals with chronic pain selectively process pain-related cues at the strategic level but not at the automatic level. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Beyond automation and control: Manufacturing information systems from a strategic perspective

This paper reviews the application of computer-based information systems for manufacturing, which has found a lack of strategic orientation. Critical factors for a strategic-oriented information system, i.e. external information scanning, data refining and information reporting, are discussed. A strategic-oriented system model that incorporates information scanning-refining-reporting into manufacturing automation and control systems is proposed. A case study of a corporate strategic information processing system in a UK company is explored. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are made.

Top management perception of strategic information processing in a turbulent environment

Extant strategic management literature provides only partial answers to the important question: what variables affect top managers′ ability to process complicated, novel, ambiguous, or dynamic strategic information in a turbulent environment? Drawing on cognitive psychology, personality theory, management theory, organizational theory, and management information systems literature, proposes that nine personal attributes and four contextual attributes affect top managers′ information‐processing capability. The nine personal attributes are: cognitive complexity, knowledge, mental model of success, openmindedness, time orientation, personal values, tolerance for ambiguity, locus of control, and time devoted to environmental scanning. The four contextual attributes are: rewards and incentives, culture, structure of strategic planning process, and executive support systems. Thirteen propositions are postulated regarding the types of attributes that are conducive for top managers′ ability in processing complicated, novel, ambiguous, or dynamic information.

Executive support systems in strategic environmental information processing

Abstract Environmental scanning and interpretation (ES&I)provides crucial information upon which strategic decision-making is based. This paper introduces a model that discusses five information filters observable during information processing in ESI. It also examines the attributes that may influence the performance of each filter. The paper then shows how an executive support system (ESS), especially when enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, can be used to lessen the potential negative effects that may be created by the filters.