The use of heuristics in quick decision-making as a manifestation of bounded rationality under stress
Keywords:
adaptation, psychological; anxiety; cognition; decision making; heuristics; reproducibility of results; resilience, psychological; stress, psychological; surveys and questionairesAbstract
Introduction: The relevance of this study is due to the increasing influence of quick and incomplete decision-making within crisis environments, particularly in extreme social or organizational contexts.
Objective: Identifying the characteristics of heuristic application during decision-making processes under cognitive load and stress, interpreting these phenomena as manifestations of bounded rationality.
Methods: Data were gathered utilizing the situational anxiety questionnaire STAI, the intuitiveness scale CSI, and the author’s original set of heuristic tasks (HDMI). Statistical analysis was conducted employing Student’s t-test, Pearson correlation analysis, linear regression, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The reliability of the methods was assessed through the three-sigma criterion and Cronbach’s α coefficient.
Results: The study encompassed 120 participants. Individuals in the experimental group exhibited significantly elevated HDMI scores (M = 61.4) compared to the control group (M = 49.1), p < 0.001. The degree of situational anxiety was positively correlated with heuristics (r = 0.42), and this relationship was statistically significant, p < 0.01. The heuristics were found to be contextually sensitive to stress and cognitive style, indicating its adaptive nature.
Conclusions: Stress significantly increases heuristic decision-making, with anxiety intensifying this effect and cognitive style acting as a moderator.
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