More Like this

1. An ethical decision-making framework with serious gaming: a smart water case study on flooding

   https://doi.org/10.2166/hydro.2021.097  

   Ewing, Gregory; Demir, Ibrahim (March 2021, Journal of Hydroinformatics)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Sensors and control technologies are being deployed at unprecedented levels in both urban and rural water environments. Because sensor networks and control allow for higher-resolution monitoring and decision making in both time and space, greater discretization of control will allow for an unprecedented precision of impacts, both positive and negative. Likewise, humans will continue to cede direct decision-making powers to decision-support technologies, e.g. data algorithms. Systems will have ever-greater potential to effect human lives, and yet, humans will be distanced from decisions. Combined these trends challenge water resources management decision-support tools to incorporate the concepts of ethical and normative expectations. Toward this aim, we propose the Water Ethics Web Engine (WE)2, an integrated and generalized web framework to incorporate voting-based ethical and normative preferences into water resources decision support. We demonstrate this framework with a ‘proof-of-concept’ use case where decision models are learned and deployed to respond to flooding scenarios. Findings indicate that the framework can capture group ‘wisdom’ within learned models to use in decision making. The methodology and ‘proof-of-concept’ system presented here are a step toward building a framework to engage people with algorithmic decision making in cases where ethical preferences are considered. We share our framework and its cyber components openly with the research community. 

   more » « less
2. The Wisdom of Strategic Voting

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3580507.3597681  

   Han, Qishen; Schoenebeck, Grant; Tao, Biaoshuai; Xia, Lirong (July 2023, ACM)

   We study the voting game where agents' preferences are endogenously decided by the information they receive, and they can collaborate in a group. We show that strategic voting behaviors have a positive impact on leading to the "correct" decision, outperforming the common non-strategic behavior of informative voting and sincere voting. Our results give merit to strategic voting for making good decisions. To this end, we investigate a natural model, where voters' preferences between two alternatives depend on a discrete state variable that is not directly observable. Each voter receives a private signal that is correlated with the state variable. We reveal a surprising equilibrium between a strategy profile being a strong equilibrium and leading to the decision favored by the majority of agents conditioned on them knowing the ground truth (referred to as the informed majority decision): as the size of the vote goes to infinity, every ε-strong Bayes Nash Equilibrium with ε converging to 0 formed by strategic agents leads to the informed majority decision with probability converging to 1. On the other hand, we show that informative voting leads to the informed majority decision only under unbiased instances, and sincere voting leads to the informed majority decision only when it also forms an equilibrium. 

   more » « less
3. Numeracy and the Motivational Mind: The Power of Numeric Self-efficacy

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X221099904  

   Peters, Ellen; Shoots-Reinhard, Brittany (May 2022, Medical Decision Making)

   BackgroundObjective numeracy appears to support better medical decisions and health outcomes. The more numerate generally understand and use numbers more and make better medical decisions, including more informed medical choices. Numeric self-efficacy—an aspect of subjective numeracy that is also known as numeric confidence—also relates to decision making via emotional reactions to and inferences from experienced difficulty with numbers and via persistence linked with numeric comprehension and healthier behaviors over time. Furthermore, it moderates the effects of objective numeracy on medical outcomes. PurposeWe briefly review the numeracy and decision-making literature and then summarize more recent literature on 3 separable effects of numeric self-efficacy. Although dual-process theories can account for the generally superior decision making of the highly numerate, they have neglected effects of numeric self-efficacy. We discuss implications for medical decision-making (MDM) research and practice. Finally, we propose a modification to dual-process theories, adding a “motivational mind” to integrate the effects of numeric self-efficacy on decision-making processes (i.e., inferences from experienced difficulty with numbers, greater persistence, and greater use of objective-numeracy skills) important to high-quality MDM. ConclusionsThe power of numeric self-efficacy (confidence) has been little considered in MDM, but many medical decisions and behaviors require persistence to be successful over time (e.g., comprehension, medical-recommendation adherence). Including numeric self-efficacy in research and theorizing will increase understanding of MDM and promote development of better decision interventions. HighlightsResearch demonstrates that objective numeracy supports better medical decisions and health outcomes. The power of numeric self-efficacy (aka numeric confidence) has been little considered but appears critical to emotional reactions and inferences that patients and others make when encountering numeric information (e.g., in decision aids) and to greater persistence in medical decision-making tasks involving numbers. The present article proposes a novel modification to dual-process theory to account for newer findings and to describe how numeracy mechanisms can be better understood. Because being able to adapt interventions to improve medical decisions depends in part on having a good theory, future research should incorporate numeric self-efficacy into medical decision-making theories and interventions. 

   more » « less
4. Participation Improves Collective Decisions (When It Involves Deliberation): Experimental Evidence From Kenya

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123421000375  

   Grillos, Tara (October 2022, British Journal of Political Science)

   Abstract Citizen participation in decision making has been widely lauded as a method for improving societal outcomes. Deliberative discussion, in particular, is believed to be more transformative than a mere aggregation of individual preferences, leading to more socially optimal decision making and behavior. I report the results from a laboratory experiment with 570 subjects in Nairobi, directly testing the effect of participation in deliberative group decision making on collective outcomes. Participants engage in a group task to earn compensation toward a shared group fund. Randomly assigned treatments vary according to whether decision making over the task to be completed involves: (1) external assignment; (2) non-deliberative majority voting; or (3) consensus through deliberative discussion. I find that deliberation improves collective decision making. Deliberation is also associated with changes in preferences, greater agreement with decision outcomes, and greater perceived fairness. Evidence for behavior change is weaker, but there is some support for further research into the relationship between preference change and behavior change. 

   more » « less
5. Finding hope and fulfillment in meaningful work: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of conservation and stewardship practitioners’ experience, values, and motivations

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000087  

   Soucy, Alyssa; De_Urioste-Stone, Sandra; Rahimzadeh-Bajgiran, Parinaz; Jansujwicz, Jessica; Eitel, Karla; Brownlee, Matthew (November 2023, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation)

   Cooke, Steven J (Ed.)

   Values and motivations can shape natural resource management decision-making as individuals set conservation goals based on diverse, unique backgrounds, histories, and experiences. Recent literature points to the need to understand, evaluate, and articulate practitioner values to make explicit how experiences shape their work. Our research responds to calls to explore a diverse range of values and motivations among conservation practitioners. We used a qualitative approach grounded in phenomenology to advance an in-depth understanding of how conservation and stewardship practitioners experience, acknowledge, and make sense of conservation decision-making in Maine, USA. We interviewed 21 conservation and stewardship practitioners. Our results indicate the presence of complex value systems, including strong biospheric, altruistic, eudaimonic, as well as egoistic values. These values interact and intersect with motivations for participants’ careers in conservation in unique ways, driving participant actions and decision-making. Within Maine specifically, our results highlight the many areas for convergence of broad values among seemingly diverse groups that can inform opportunities for collaboration. Participants expressed various pathways to careers in conservation, where their work enables them to make a meaningful contribution to the environment and society. However in situations where personal and organizational values are misaligned, the role of organizational transparency, employee empowerment, and agency are key. Our results have implications for conservation groups seeking to achieve high employee satisfaction, as well as researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who hope to inspire individuals to take on conservation careers to create sustainable and transformative action for the future. Fostering early experiences in place, including interactions with the non-human world and local community, are important for influencing and reinforcing values and motivations for conservation action. 

   more » « less