Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm
The Deliberation without Attention (DWA) effect refers to apparent improvements in decision-making following a period of distraction. It has been presented as evidence for beneficial unconscious cognitive processes. We identify two major concerns with this claim: first, as these demonstrations typic...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2011-06-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/11/101017/jdm101017.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797715236321492992 |
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| author | Balazs Aczel Bence Lukacs Judit Komlos Michael R. F. Aitken |
| author_facet | Balazs Aczel Bence Lukacs Judit Komlos Michael R. F. Aitken |
| author_sort | Balazs Aczel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Deliberation without Attention (DWA) effect refers to apparent improvements in decision-making following a period of distraction. It has been presented as evidence for beneficial unconscious cognitive processes. We identify two major concerns with this claim: first, as these demonstrations typically involve subjective preferences, the effects of distraction cannot be objectively assessed as beneficial; second, there is no direct evidence that the DWA manipulation promotes unconscious decision processes. We describe two tasks based on the DWA paradigm in which we found no evidence that the distraction manipulation led to decision processes that are subjectively unconscious, nor that it reduced the influence of presentation order upon performance. Crucially, we found that a lack of awareness of decision process was associated with poorer performance, both in terms of subjective preference measures used in traditional DWA paradigm and in an equivalent task where performance can be objectively assessed. Therefore, we argue that reliance on conscious memory itself can explain the data. Thus the DWA paradigm is not an adequate method of assessing beneficial unconscious thought. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:03:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-68cd25318e64430cb854039ae3201df5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:03:56Z |
| publishDate | 2011-06-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-68cd25318e64430cb854039ae3201df52023-09-02T19:43:23ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752011-06-0164351358Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigmBalazs AczelBence LukacsJudit KomlosMichael R. F. AitkenThe Deliberation without Attention (DWA) effect refers to apparent improvements in decision-making following a period of distraction. It has been presented as evidence for beneficial unconscious cognitive processes. We identify two major concerns with this claim: first, as these demonstrations typically involve subjective preferences, the effects of distraction cannot be objectively assessed as beneficial; second, there is no direct evidence that the DWA manipulation promotes unconscious decision processes. We describe two tasks based on the DWA paradigm in which we found no evidence that the distraction manipulation led to decision processes that are subjectively unconscious, nor that it reduced the influence of presentation order upon performance. Crucially, we found that a lack of awareness of decision process was associated with poorer performance, both in terms of subjective preference measures used in traditional DWA paradigm and in an equivalent task where performance can be objectively assessed. Therefore, we argue that reliance on conscious memory itself can explain the data. Thus the DWA paradigm is not an adequate method of assessing beneficial unconscious thought.http://journal.sjdm.org/11/101017/jdm101017.pdfunconscious thoughtintuitiondeliberation.NAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | Balazs Aczel Bence Lukacs Judit Komlos Michael R. F. Aitken Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm Judgment and Decision Making unconscious thought intuition deliberation.NAKeywords |
| title | Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm |
| title_full | Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm |
| title_fullStr | Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm |
| title_short | Unconscious intuition or conscious analysis? Critical questions for the Deliberation-Without-Attention paradigm |
| title_sort | unconscious intuition or conscious analysis critical questions for the deliberation without attention paradigm |
| topic | unconscious thought intuition deliberation.NAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/11/101017/jdm101017.pdf |
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