Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

Recent theories of decision-making, such as Decision by Sampling, suggest that people lack stable preferences. Instead, preferences are malleable and constructed in the moment by comparisons of target attributes to small samples of attribute values active in working memory. Manipulating the distribution of attribute values observed before a choice has therefore been suggested to affect subsequent choices. In a series of four experiments, we investigate if prior exposure to different distributions of attribute values affect subsequent pairwise, two-alternative forced choices and listwise choices between multiple options. We also investigate if these suggested effects are attenuated by domain expertise. We typically find that listwise choices are affected by prior experience of attributes in the predicted manner but that the pairwise choices are not. This occurs even when we hold range constant, and the effect is reduced but not eliminated by substantial domain expertise. We propose that this format dependence of the malleability of choices is an important challenge for any theory of their cognitive origin.

Accounting studies document that performance evaluations may cause evaluatees to experience job related stress and suggest there is a positive relationship between the frequency of such evaluations and stress. In this paper we aim to modify this suggestion. Since performance evaluations also involve a periodic discharge of accountability for evaluatees, we expect that low evaluation frequency may cause stress as well. Drawing on the neurobiological literature on allostatic load, we argue that the prolonged anticipatory threat of being held accountable adds to stress buildup over time. Such buildup is often not consciously experienced but shows in hormonal patterns that are associated with delayed job-related dysfunctions such as burnout. We conducted a one-year field experiment, in which we observed enhanced stress-hormone levels (cortisol and thyrotropin) in participants assigned to a 12-week performance evaluation cycle compared to participants remaining in a 6-week cycle. We found no corresponding difference between conditions on self-reported mental fatigue. This confirms our expectation and suggests that adopting a neurobiological view of job-related stress provides a complementary account of the effect of performance evaluation on both immediately experienced and delayed manifestations of job-related stress. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).