Does Standers-by Always See More Than Gamesters?A Review on the Self-other Decision Making Differences

Abstract

Numerous studies have examined the differences between the conditions of giving advice to others, making decisions for others, and making decisions for oneself. An important reason for researchers to examine the differences between the three conditions, arguable, is to determine which one is more likely leading to rational or optimized choice. The research in the literature, on one hand, revealed that people experience choice overload, display omission bias and confirmatory bias when they make decisions for themselves, but do not show these decision biases when they make decisions on behalf of others or give advice for others. Some research, on the other hand, has demonstrated that more compromise effect and predecisional distortion were displayed when people make decisions on behalf of others than make decisions for themselves. These results suggest that standers-by does not always see more than gamesters. Construction level theory, regulatory focus theory and emotional factors were proposed to explain the differences between decision making for oneself or for others. We suggest future research examine and explain the differences between decision making for oneself and for others in a more integrated way and focus on examining the mechanism of self-other decision making by employing methods such as eye tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging to provide a much richer description of the decision process.