Decision making and advice giving : Differences in construal level and responsibility

Abstract

Three experimental studies are reported, the first two of which explore differences in advisors’ and decision makers’ preferences, and differences in personal decisions in the near and the distant future. It was expected that preferences of advisors would be more similar to those of distant future decision makers than of near future decision makers. This prediction was supported. In Experiment 1, advisors (both pure advisors and decision makers for others) and distant future decision makers made more action choices than near future decision makers, thus only for low life-impact situations. In Experiment 2 advisors and distant future decision makers made more desirability choices than near future decision makers. These results indicate some similarities in representation of the decision problem due to a psychological distance to the event, which construal level theory could account for. Experiment 3 explores decision makers’ and advisors’ responsibility from the perspective of both decision makers and advisors. Responsibilities are explored both without knowledge of decision outcomes, and with two levels of outcome (moderately and severely negative.Decision makers are generally perceived as being much more responsible for a decision than advisors, both by the decision makers themselves and by the advisors. Advisors, on the other hand, perceived themselves as more responsible than did decision makers. Decision outcomes are found to have an impact on perception of responsibility. Decision makers perceived their own responsibility to increase with knowledge of negative decision outcomes, while they perceived advisors' responsibility to decrease. Advisors, on the other hand, perceived their own responsibility to decrease with knowledge of moderate outcomes, and to increase with knowledge of severely negative outcomes.