TY - JOUR
T1 - Less is more
T2 - information needs, information wants, and what makes causal models useful
AU - Kleinberg, Samantha
AU - Marsh, Jessecae K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Psychonomic Society.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Each day people make decisions about complex topics such as health and personal finances. Causal models of these domains have been created to aid decisions, but the resulting models are often complex and it is not known whether people can use them successfully. We investigate the trade-off between simplicity and complexity in decision making, testing diagrams tailored to target choices (Experiments 1 and 2), and with relevant causal paths highlighted (Experiment 3), finding that simplicity or directing attention to simple causal paths leads to better decisions. We test the boundaries of this effect (Experiment 4), finding that including a small amount of information beyond that related to the target answer has a detrimental effect. Finally, we examine whether people know what information they need (Experiment 5). We find that simple, targeted, information still leads to the best decisions, while participants who believe they do not need information or seek out the most complex information performed worse.
AB - Each day people make decisions about complex topics such as health and personal finances. Causal models of these domains have been created to aid decisions, but the resulting models are often complex and it is not known whether people can use them successfully. We investigate the trade-off between simplicity and complexity in decision making, testing diagrams tailored to target choices (Experiments 1 and 2), and with relevant causal paths highlighted (Experiment 3), finding that simplicity or directing attention to simple causal paths leads to better decisions. We test the boundaries of this effect (Experiment 4), finding that including a small amount of information beyond that related to the target answer has a detrimental effect. Finally, we examine whether people know what information they need (Experiment 5). We find that simple, targeted, information still leads to the best decisions, while participants who believe they do not need information or seek out the most complex information performed worse.
KW - Causal models
KW - Decision-making
KW - Information complexity
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U2 - 10.1186/s41235-023-00509-7
DO - 10.1186/s41235-023-00509-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 37646868
SN - 2365-7464
VL - 8
JO - Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
JF - Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
IS - 1
M1 - 57
ER -