A dual-process approach to health risk decision making: The prototype willingness model

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Abstract

Although dual-process models in cognitive, personality, and social psychology have stimulated a large body of research about analytic and heuristic modes of decision making, these models have seldom been applied to the study of adolescent risk behaviors. In addition, the developmental course of these two kinds of information processing, and their relation to the development of self-regulation are not well understood at this time. The current paper reviews what leading dual-process models have to say about the development of analytic and heuristic decision making, and their implications for adolescent risk behavior. In addition, it reviews research on the prototype willingness model of adolescent decision making—a dual-process model designed specifically to address non-intentional, but volitional adolescent risk behavior. It also discusses the implications of dual-process models for intervention research.

Section snippets

Dual-process models of decision making

Dual-processing models of cognition maintain that two qualitatively different modes of information processing operate in decision making (Chaiken and Trope, 1999, Cosmides and Tooby, 2000, Epstein, 1973, Evans and Over, 1996, Reyna and Brainerd, 1990, Shafir and LeBoeuf, 2002, Sloman, 1996, Stanovich and West, 2000). These models use a variety of labels for the two modes (see Table 1), but they are generally in agreement that one mode is based more or less on heuristics and affect, whereas the

Prototype willingness model of adolescent risk behavior

The prototype model is related to other dual-processing models in that it is based on an assumption that there are two types of decision making involved in health behavior (Gerrard et al., 2005, Gibbons et al., 2003). These two types are reflected in two hypothesized paths to adolescent risk behavior: a reasoned path similar to that described in the theory of reasoned action, which involves more analytic processing; and a social reaction path that is image-based and involves more heuristic

Influence of intentions vs. willingness over time

There is reason to believe that with age and experience, decision making tends to shift from a more reactive process to a more reasoned one. Thus, over time, the relation between intention and behavior tends to strengthen and eventually becomes stronger (statistically) than that between willingness and behavior (e.g., Kashima et al., 1993, Reinecke et al., 1996, Sheeran and Orbell, 1998). Findings of three recent studies in our lab support this hypothesis (Pomery et al., 2008).The first of

A heuristic approach to intervention

The majority of health behavior interventions have focused on reasoned elements of decision making about health behavior, and have been designed to promote deliberative processing, e.g., strengthen intentions to avoid risk and increase consideration of potential negative consequences. Research on the prototype model has suggested that images can play an important role in the success of interventions by addressing heuristic and reactive processes in decision making. For example, we found (

Conclusion

Until recently most theories of attitude–behavior relations and decision making have focused on expectancy value approaches that assume deliberative processing of information about the costs and benefits of various behavioral alternatives. Awareness of the limitations of these approaches however (cf., Albarracı´n et al., 2001; Eagley & Chaiken, 1993; Webb & Sheeran, 2006), has resulted in the development of alternative models that incorporate distinctions between analytic and heuristic

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    The authors’ research reported in this article was primarily supported by grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse.

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