Decision Making in Use Contexts: Can User Decision Behaviour Be Influenced by Means of Sunk Time, Framing, and default?

Petersen Warming, Krestina ; Boesen, Sigrid

4. term

Engineering Psychology, Master

2011

2011-05-31

206 pages

This project is founded upon psychological research which suggests that humans make "irrational" decisions given certain circumstances. The scope is to examine if these observed decision patterns also apply in use situations. Three subjects within the field of decision making are examined; sunk time-, framing-, and default theory. Within each of the areas a series of use related experiments are set up in order to examine the subjects from different perspectives. The results from the sunk time experiments suggest that a sunk time effect is present in use situations, in this case mediated by waiting times. The framing effect is examined in terms of slide bar reference framing and colour framing however, no significant effects are found. The default effect is tested in system setup scenarios where test subjects are able to adjust- or keep default settings; the results imply that for unfamiliar scenarios the effect is not apparent, whereas the effect is emphasised in familiar scenarios. Despite not all results showing clear tendencies, it is emphasised that decision behaviour in use situations can be influenced by design means; hence such parameters can be used to affect users' behaviour and thus need to be accounted for in design for human beings.

Decision Making ; Sunk Time ; Framing ; Default

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