Psychology Department Vowels, Christopher

Christopher L. Vowels

Description of Research
I have an interest in multiple areas of psychology that include judgment and decision-making, human factors, basic cognitive principles, and, even, industrial/organizational psychology. First and foremost, my interest lies in how we make decisions and the cognitive mechanisms and processes that drive those decisions.

Advisor: Dr. James Shanteau

Basic Research

In my first year at K-state, I was a member of the KSTAR Aviation Research Lab and my research emphasis was on color usage in avionics displays. Specifically, I examined the issue of color usage as a primary warning indication and also the misuse of non-warning color and its role as a detriment to accurate performance. I currently work with the CWS team which explores the application of the CWS index as a measure of performance in various settings. Some of these team members also attend the weekly meetings of the Decision Research Group (DRG) at K-State, headed by my advisor. DRG meetings consist of discussions involving current topics in JDM and other issues of import for Psychology such as, the use and misuse of confidence intervals.

Applied Research

I am fortunate enough to currently work in two applied settings that are allowing me to apply some of the statistical and methodological knowledge, I have gained at K-state, to real-world problems. I currently work as a research fellow at the Leader Development Research Unit in Ft. Leavenworth, KS; this is one of several research laboratories of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral & Social Sciences (ARI). As a Consortium Fellow, I work on leadership development issues that target junior-ranking officers. The research involves developing methodologies that allow for both the assessment and training of the fundamental components for success of the Army's Future Force such as, leadership and cultural awareness. I also work as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) where my work involves data management, data analysis, and evaluative instrument development for research program assessment across multiple disciplines and organizations.

Masters Research

For my Master's Thesis, I explored a behavioral trap, more commonly known as the sunk cost effect,in both dynamic and static decision contexts. The static environment involved the traditional format for exploring the effect, having participants read a paragraph describing an investment situation and then having them indicate a choice between options. This traditional format was modified so that participants indicated choices on a visual analog scale with behavioral anchors at either end. Likewise, the literature was further extended by analyzing reasons participants indicated with respect to choices; this allowed an examination of the synchronicity, or lack of, between choices and reasons given by the same individual across multiple scenarios. For the dynamic decision environment, I utilized Fire Chief to explore how a real-time decision environment, with immediate feedback, affected decisions to continue across situations where commitment to initial fire events and value of consumable elements varied with respect to secondary fire events threatening elements of equal or lesser value. A final component of the project involved training in the use of adages as a functional heuristic to aid decision making across both static and dynamic decision environments.

Doctoral Research

For my Doctoral work, I examined if engaging in reasoning exercises could lead to the abstraction of an implicit decision strategy that could be utilized across both Immediate and Cumulative behavioral trap decision environments. In Immediate trap situations, past costs are explicit and trap the decision maker to focus only on the past. These costs should be ignored, since they will not, economically, affect future costs nor benefits. In Cumulative trap situations, past costs are presented as inconsequential events and are easily ignored. These events will accumulate and manifest as a detrimental consequence; thus, the decision maker should be paying attention to these past costs. The traps exert a control over the decision process, in either situation, because the decision maker fails to consider alternative options. The reasoning exercises used were both forms of hypothesis generation. It was conjectured by engaging in them, persons would be able to abstract a multiple hypothesis generation strategy, offsetting the effects of trap options. Results indicate that forward-looking reasoning assisted problem types that force explicit cost recognition and immediate decision outcomes(Immediate). Past-looking reasoning assisted problem types that force little cost recognition and delayed decision outcomes(Cumulative). In a second component of this project, individual differences were explored. Particularly, a predisiposition for the amount of information that persons process and the individualized decision style persons use when making decisions predicted decision outcomes, while a measure of capacity or ability to process information did not.