Disrupting Dual Systems: A Dynamic Decision-Making Framework for Human Behavior

25 Pages Posted: 29 May 2020

See all articles by Vinod Venkatraman

Vinod Venkatraman

Temple University - Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management

John Wittenbraker

Muhlenberg College

Date Written: May 21, 2020

Abstract

Human decision making is often characterized as a competition between a deliberative, “cognitive” system and an irrational, impulsive, “emotional” system, a view conventionally aligned with dual process theories. We challenge this prevailing dual systems narrative using evidence from a growing body of behavioral and neuroscience studies and propose a new dynamic decision-making framework for understanding human behavior. Rather than follow the intuitive conventional wisdom that processing is binary, our framework argues that decisions are the outcome of a cascade of processes that range a continuum or gradient of cognitive effort from fast/automatic to slow/deliberative and unfold as decisions are constructed. Critically, there is a regulatory or adaptive control process that modulates or guides this cascade of processes to select a response that is suitable for the current context. Finally, these processes are deeply influenced by the goals, prior associations and experiences stored in memory, and bodily sensations that combine with those associations to create emotions. We discuss the implications of this framework for managerial insights and strategies.

Keywords: adaptive processing, consumer decisions, decision strategies, emotions, cognition, neurophysiological methods

Suggested Citation

Venkatraman, Vinod and Wittenbraker, John, Disrupting Dual Systems: A Dynamic Decision-Making Framework for Human Behavior (May 21, 2020). Fox School of Business Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3607481 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3607481

Vinod Venkatraman (Contact Author)

Temple University - Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management ( email )

Philadelphia, PA 19122
United States

John Wittenbraker

Muhlenberg College ( email )

Allentown, PA 18104
United States
6106594888 (Fax)

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