Problem framing :: a remedy for indecisiveness in decision-making?

PROBLEM FRAMING: A REMEDY FOR INDECI S IVENESS IN DECISION-MAKING? SEPTEMBER 1999 MARY SEBURN, B.S., GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Icek Aizen Difficulty and conflict results in indecisiveness , often causing an impasse in the decision-making process. Two decision problems were presented under a positive, negative or neutral frame under conditions of cognitive load and no cognitive load. After making their decision participants rated it for difficulty, completed a belief elicitation and recognition task, and completed measures of indecisiveness and need for cognition. Introducing a framing bias in the option evaluation stage of a decision problem slightly reduced indecisiveness, making the decision less difficult to resolve. Adding cognitive load also reduced indecisiveness. The current research suggests and provides evidence that a predisposition to attend to and consider all features of a problem correlates with indecisiveness and that indecisiveness can be reduced by