Cognitive adaptation and its consequences: a test of cognitive continuum theory

Abstract

Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT) is an adaptive theory of human judgement and posits a continuum of cognitive modes anchored by intuition and analysis. The theory specifies surface and depth task characteristics that are likely to induce cognitive modes at different points along the cognitive continuum. The current study manipulated both the surface (information representation) and depth (task structure) characteristics of a multiple‐cue integration threat assessment task. The surface manipulation influenced cognitive mode in the predicted direction with an iconic information display inducing a more intuitive mode than a numeric information display. The depth manipulation influenced cognitive mode in a pattern not predicted by CCT. Results indicate this difference was due to a combination of task complexity and participant satisfacing. As predicted, analysis produced a more leptokurtic error distribution than intuition. Task achievement was a function of the extent to which participants demonstrated an analytic cognitive mode index, and not a function of correspondence, as predicted. This difference was likely due to the quantitative nature of the task manipulations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effective judgmental forecasting in the context of fashion products⋆

“…Consistent with previous research decomposing forecasting task environments (Dunwoody et al, 2000), Table 2 provides an overview of the descriptive statistics associated with our four decision support conditions. The table includes information about (1) the number of cues available for making a judgment, (2) the degree of redundancy among the cues (measured as the mean inter‐correlation ( r c ) among all relevant cues), and (3) the degree to which the environmental cues are equally weighted (measured by the standard deviation of β weights derived from the environmental model).…”

The intuitive use of contextual information in decisions made with verbal and numerical quantifiers

“…Several properties of words and numbers support the proposition that verbal quantifiers could be more intuitively processed than numerical ones ( Ayal et al, 2015 ; Budescu & Wallsten, 1990 ; Dunwoody et al, 2000 ; Liu et al, in press ; Nordgren et al, 2011 ; Windschitl & Wells, 1996 ). In general, words are processed in an automatic manner, needing conscious effort to suppress the meanings they evoke ( MacLeod, 1991 ).…”

Using the Lens Model and Cognitive Continuum Theory to Understand the Effects of Cognition on Phishing Victimization

“…The degree of nonlinearity in the organizing principle was measured by taking the difference in R 2 values of a linear and nonlinear model of the environment. TCI score calculation used a modified version of the equation presented by Dunwoody et al (2000), which standardized and averaged the measures:…”

“…Wang et al (2016) reported that, as overestimation and overprecision increased, cognitive effort decreased. As is standard for a CCI score calculation, each measure was linearly transformed into a 1-10 scale and then averaged together (Dunwoody et al, 2000;Hammond et al, 1987). Because of their inverse relationship with cognition as compared to the other measures, overestimation and overprecision were reversed before transformation (Wang et al, 2016).…”

“…Cognitive Continuum Theory Analyses. The TCI score was calculated using measures standard in the literature and that were available in the existing dataset (Dunwoody, Haarbauer, Mahan, Marino, & Chu-Chun, 2000;Hammond et al, 1987). These measures were the number of cues, the redundancy among cues (average inter-cue correlation), the standard deviation of cue weights, the degree of nonlinearity in the organizing principle, and the degree of certainty in the task system (R 2 e ).…”