A STUDY OF THE USE OF SOCIAL INFORMATION IN DECISION-MAKING

AMY S KNICELY, Purdue University

Abstract

It was the goal of this thesis to further the social information processing research by investigating issues beyond the basic question "Do others influence job perceptions and task satisfaction?" To do this, two different areas were addressed--how is information from different sources weighted and how is information weighted when it is sought in contrast to merely presented. The answers to these questions were investigated in two separate studies. For both studies, a policy capturing paradigm was used. Subjects were presented with a series of jobs described by various cues and asked to rate how much they would like or dislike the job described. Multiple regression was then used to capture each subjects rating policy by computing the relative importance of each cue in determining the overall rating. In study 1, supervisor and co-worker opinions served as sources of social information and the weight subjects gave to this information was analyzed. Research in 4 areas suggested what might occur. None of the hypotheses were supported. In study 2, a second issue was addressed. Here, it was hypothesized that subjects who had to search for information would give that information more weight than subjects to whom the same information was presented. Support for this hypothesis was equivocal. Post hoc analysis suggested interesting future research in the area of values and individual differences.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Occupational psychology

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