Post-decision consolidation: Group members in different social settings compared to individual decision makers

Two experiments were conducted to examine how making decisions in a 3-membe r group affects the degree of post-decision consolidation, defined as attra ctiveness changes in favor of the chosen alternative. Both experiments were conducted in two sessions one week apart. In the first session (decision p hase), participants estimated the importance of each of four different attr ibutes describing two decision alternatives. They were then shown predeterm ined attractiveness ratings on each of the attributes and were to decide on the two alternatives, either individually or as a group. In the second ses sion (post-decision phase), the participants were to attempt to recall the attractiveness ratings for the attributes as presented to them in session o ne. In both experiments, significant post-decision consolidation was found for individual decision makers but not for group members. In experiment 2, this result was replicated, no difference in consolidation being found betw een group members with face-to-face interaction and without.