ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2019, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (3): 447-452.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2019.00447

• Research Reports • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The influence of power on choice deferral

LI Xiao-Ming1,2(), JIANG Song-Yuan   

  1. 1 Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province
    2 Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China
  • Received:2017-12-18 Online:2019-03-15 Published:2019-01-22
  • Contact: LI Xiao-Ming E-mail:lixiaoming-2007@sohu.com

Abstract:

The present study aimed at exploring the role of power in choice deferral (a subcategory of decision avoidance) by studying the moderating role of choice difficulty (Experiment 1) and the mediating role of decision process (Experiment 2). The results showed that choice difficulty can moderate the effect of power on choice deferral, when there is not a dominating option in the choice options, preference for deferral is more pronounced for powerless individuals than for powerful individuals. Additionally, the variance in the proportion of time spent on each attribute mediated the effect of power on choice deferral. The results indicated that lower power can lead to more choice of deferral options (especially in difficult decisions), and decision processing may play an important role in the effect of power on choice deferral.

Key words: power, choice deferral, choice difficulty, decision process, MouselabWeb procedure

CLC Number: