We propose a theory of how situational activation of values evokes positive and negative feelings. In conjunction we present a re-conceptualization of Schwartz' et al. (J Personal Soc Psychol 103:663-688, 2012. 10.1037/a029393) value set including additional values. In our new value set, we posit contrastive values having opposite values and central values having no opposite values. As a consequence, balanced access to salient opposite contrastive values and maximal access to central values evoke the strongest positive and weakest negative feelings. Study 1 shows, as hypothesized, that contrastive values form a circumplex structure with central values located inside its periphery. Study 2 supports theoretically derived hypotheses of how positive and negative feelings are evoked by different degrees of access to values, salience of opposite values, and centrality of values.

Under 1800-talet och första hälften 1900-talet tillhörde psykologi som psykologisk disciplin ibland pedagogiken, ibland filosofin, och de första professurerna inom ämnet avsåg psykologi och pedagog i kombination.

Transitive preference, that is, if you prefer apples to bananas and bananas to cherries, you also prefer apples to cherries, is a basic property of some influential rational choice models. Contrary to this, Tversky, in his seminal 1969 article, presented evidence of intransitive preferences in two contexts, one of which involved choices between simple monetary lotteries. While early replications corroborated his findings, more recent research cast doubt on the strength of evidence of intransitive preferences in this task. Here, from Tversky’s extended additive difference model we develop a simplified additive difference (SAD) model that corresponds to alternative dimensional processing strategies. This predicts transitive or intransitive preferences, depending on its parameter values. We review six replications of Tversky’s lottery task and fit variants of the model to the choice data. We estimate the SAD model’s parameters for each individual data set using maximum likelihood estimation, examine the goodness of fit of the model, and use likelihood ratio tests to evaluate specific variants. The model has a very good fit to most individual choice data sets reviewed, with many predictably violating weak stochastic transitivity. We also find that many transitive patterns correspond to the application of simple, one-dimensional “take the best” heuristics. The findings support the view that human decision making is often based on dimensional processing in such a way that evaluations of decision alternatives are relative to the set under consideration, resulting in intransitivity of preferences.

Purpose - The pm-pose of this paper is to examine gender-related management stereotypes, perceived gender bias and evaluations of actual managers, and to directly compare stereotypes and ratings of actual managers. Design/methodology/approach - Questionnaires were distributed to employees in the bank and insurance sector, and 240 participants rated their actual managers and stereotypes of male and female managers. Findings - Men evaluated the female manager stereotype more positively on communal attributes, and the male manager stereotype more positively on agentic attributes. Women evaluated the female manager stereotype more positively on both communal and agentic attributes, but perceived a higher degree of gender bias in favor of male managers than men did. Actual male and female managers were rated similarly. Still, ratings of actual male managers corresponded more with stereotypes of male than female managers, and ratings of actual female managers corresponded more with stereotypes of female than male managers. Research limitations/implications - Future research needs to determine the direction of association between stereotypes and evaluations of actual managers, and the relative importance of agentic over communal attributes. Practical implications - While women appeared biased in favor of their own gender, men may underestimate the difficulties that female managers encounter. Managers and human resource practitioners should notice these different views, and recognize that gender equality is not achieved in Sweden. Originality/value - The present study contributes with data from an egalitarian society with a positive view of female managers, and a direct comparison of stereotypes and workplace evaluations.

The issue of low-wage competition in services trade involving posted workers is controversial in the EU. Using Swedish survey data, people's attitudes are found to be more negative to such trade than to goods trade. The differences depend on both a preference for favouring social groups to which individuals belong (the domestic population) and altruistic justice concerns for foreign workers. In small-group experiments, we find a tendency for people to adjust their evaluations of various aspects of trade to their general attitude. This tendency is stronger for those opposed to than those in favour of low-wage trade competition. This may indicate that the former group forms its attitudes in a less rational way than the latter group.

Ett grundtema i försök att psykologiskt förklara den finansiella krisen 2007-2008 är att den styrdes av så kallat System 1 tänkande, som kännetecknas av förenkling och skevhet i bedömningar och beslutsfattande. Krisen drevs på av ett flockbeteende, inspirerat av   en socialt delad och samtidigt förenklad verklighetsbild som omfattades av den politiska makten, affärsvärlden och vanliga medborgare. Vad kan psykologisk kunskap bidra med för att motverka framtida finansiella kriser? Försök att träna människor att undvika ensidigt och förenklat tänkande har varit måttlig framgångsrika.  Vad som behövs är att bygga upp en intellektuell miljö, där politiker, professionella aktörer och vanliga medborgare fattar kloka beslut inom det finansiella området. Mot bakgrund av forskning inom olika områden (beslutfattande, tidsasymmetrier i människors tänkande och belöningars psykologi) förslås ett antal åtgärder för att motverka finansiella kriser. Åtgärderna berör ökad transparens i olika placeringsprodukter, en mer nyanserad normpolitik, alternativ till ekonomiska prognoser, utformning av amorteringar så att de upplevs som lönsamt sparande, belöningssystem som gynnar stabilitet i det finansiella systemet, och att i den ekonomiska politiken utnyttja kompetens från olika vetenskaper.

The issue of low-wage competition in services trade involving posted workers is controversial in the EU. Using Swedish survey data, people’s attitudes are found to be more negative to such trade than to goods trade. The differences depend on both a preference for favouring social groups to which individuals belong (here the domestic population) and altruistic justice concerns for foreign workers. In small-group experiments we find a tendency for people to adjust their evaluations of various aspects of trade to their general attitude. This tendency is stronger for those opposed to than those in favour of low-wage trade competition. This may indicate that the former group forms its attitudes in a less rational way than the latter group.

We present the Concordant-Ranks (CR) strategy that decision makers use to quickly find an alternative that is proximate to an ideal alternative in a multi-attribute decision space. CR implies that decision makers prefer alternatives that exhibit concordant ranks between attribute values and attribute weights. We show that, in situations where the alternatives are equal in multi-attribute utility (MAU), minimization of the weighted Euclidean distance (WED) to an ideal alternative implies the choice of a CR alternative. In two experiments, participants chose among, as well as evaluated, alternatives that were constructed to be equal in MAU. In Experiment 1, four alternatives were designed in such a way that the choice of each alternative would be consistent with one particular choice strategy, one of which was the CR strategy. In Experiment 2, participants were presented with a CR alternative and a number of arbitrary alternatives. In both experiments, participants tended to choose the CR alternative. The CR alternative was on average evaluated as more attractive than other alternatives. In addition, measures of WED, between given alternatives and the ideal alternative, by and large agreed with the preference order for choices and attractiveness evaluations of the different types of alternatives. These findings indicate that both choices and attractiveness evaluations are guided by proximity of alternatives to an ideal alternative.

People want to be themselves (e.g., unhappy philosopher rather than happy pig, after John Stuart Mill). Psychological connectedness to one’s future self (in terms of values, beliefs, and goals) is found to critically influence preferences for hypothetical future events in participants’ lives.

This book gives insights into the most recent developments in research on judgement and decision-making. It contains contributions from some of the best-known experts in this broad field. The book is written for a wide audience and is of interest for anyone who wants to understand and improve his or her ability to make appropriate judgements and decisions. The different chapters cover a great variety of topics related to probability judgements and risk perception, cognitive and emotional processes underlying judgement, and the pragmatics of choice behaviour along with related aspects of social cognition. The different chapters, written by researchers from many countries and from different domains including psychology, linguistics, business administration and marketing, reflect the multi-disciplinary character of the book.