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Date Permissions Signed

7-20-2010

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lemm, Kristi M., 1971-

Second Advisor

Hyman, Ira E.

Third Advisor

Sampaio, Cristina A.

Abstract

Although many researchers have been unsuccessful in doing so, I was able to partially replicate Dijksterhuis' (2004) "unconscious thought" effect. I found that participants who were distracted with the performance of an irrelevant task made better decisions than participants who engaged in conscious thought or participants who made immediatedecisions. Task directions and population differences in the evaluation of option attributes likely represent confounding variables that can disrupt the unconscious thought effect. While Dijksterhuis has argued that his findings necessitate the existence of an unconscious thought process capable of operating in the absence of attention, I suspect that there is a more parsimonious explanation. I suggest that participants may develop implicit preference as they read the attribute statements, and that the behavioral expression of this preference is moderated by thought condition.

Type

Text

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25710/v1my-a255

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

653192425

Subject – LCSH

Decision making--Psychological aspects; Cognitive psychology

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

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