Personal Values & Decision-Making Biases
Decision-making is understood to be influenced by genetic and environmental factors related to need, as are personal values. Personal values are a component of personality known to influence decision-making in agreement with the circular structure of the Schwartz (1992) system. We set out to explore whether personal values also exert complementary linear patterns of influence on heuristics and performance in fluid intelligence and creativity tests. Such patterns are predicted by an evolutionary theory that proposes the influence of values described by Schwartz (1992) evolve sequentially and incrementally in living systems, internalising the schema of a pre-existing system of universal equivalents. Testing N=1317 individuals with challenges derived from Kahneman and Tversky and others, we found values exerted both circular and linear influences on intuitive and rational decision-making. These were apparent in overall value/response correlation patterns, and in the performance of individuals allocated to linear, values-based, quasi-Maslowian (1943) motivational types. Performance in fluid intelligence and creativity tests most strongly betrayed linear, developmental patterns of influence. In relation to a Bayesian inference challenge, tentative support was also forthcoming for the hypothesis that those most likely to be subject to values-related conflicts would be most likely to avoid giving erroneous intuitive responses by engaging rational system 2 thinking (Stanovich & West, 2000). This suggests values may also play a role in mediating between rational and irrational systems of thinking. These findings extend our understanding of the role values play in individual decision-making, and by extension, their importance in organizational and societal decision-making.