INTUITIVE PERCEPTIONS OF DECISION-MAKING STRATEGY - NAIVE ASSESSORS CONCEPTS OF INTEGRATIVE COMPLEXITY

Although there are measurable differences in integrative complexity am ong solutions that individuals generate in dealing with problems, it i s uncertain to what extent people comprehend, recognize, and have pref erences among different levels of complexity. Integrative complexity i s a function of differentiation (the perception of several attributes within, or perspectives about, a topic) and integration (combining the differentiated characteristics in an interactive or synthesizing solu tion). The current paper reports two experiments dealing with how univ ersity students perceive, interpret, and choose among solutions differ ing in complexity. Experiment 1 showed that subjects accurately rated the complexity of described solutions differing along the continuum, b ut that their assessment of their own responses differed from the resu lts of expert scoring. Their self-estimated complexity was highly corr elated with their preferences, and preferred complexity was reliably h igher than either expert- or self-assessed complexity of subject-gener ated solutions. Subjects were able to hypothesize quite accurately abo ut environmental and endogenous factors likely to affect complexity. E xperiment 2 found that in response to problem scenarios, solutions sel ected as being potentially most effective were consistently more compl ex than solutions that participants considered themselves most likely to use. The idea of complexity seems to be intuitively recognizable an d understandable by untrained subjects: They can and do distinguish am ong problem solutions (self-generated or presented) that vary on that dimension, and are able to assess accurately the effects of relevant v ariables. Such subjects also share the bias shown by experts in favour of the superiority of more complex approaches.