Take-the-best in expert-novice decision strategies for residential burglary

We examined the decision strategies and cue use of experts and novices in a consequential domain: crime. Three participant groups decided which of two residential properties was more likely to be burgled, on the basis of eight cues such as location of the property. The two expert groups were experie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychonomic bulletin & review 2009-02, Vol.16 (1), p.163-169
Main Authors: Garcia-Retamero, Rocio, Dhami, Mandeep K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Behavior
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Brief Reports
Burglary
Choice Behavior
Cognition. Intelligence
Cognitive Psychology
Criminal investigations
Cues
Decision Making
Decision making. Choice
Experts
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Graduate students
Humans
Judgment
Male
Middle Aged
Police
Practice (Psychology)
Prisoners - psychology
Problem Solving
Professional Competence
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Students - psychology
Studies
Theft - psychology
Young Adult
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Summary:We examined the decision strategies and cue use of experts and novices in a consequential domain: crime. Three participant groups decided which of two residential properties was more likely to be burgled, on the basis of eight cues such as location of the property. The two expert groups were experienced burglars and police officers, and the novice group was composed of graduate students. We found that experts’ choices were best predicted by a lexicographic heuristic strategy called take-the-best that implies noncompensatory information processing, whereas novices’ choices were best predicted by a weighted additive linear strategy that implies compensatory processing. The two expert groups, however, differed in the cues they considered important in making their choices, and the police officers were actually more similar to novices in this regard. These findings extend the literature on judgment, decision making, and expertise, and have implications for criminal justice policy.
ISSN:1069-9384
1531-5320
DOI:10.3758/PBR.16.1.163