Time pressure, training and decision effectiveness

An experiment was carried out in order to evaluate the effects of time pressure and of training on the utilization of compensatory multi-attribute (MAU) decision processes. Sixty subjects made buying decisions with and without training in the process of compensatory MAU decision-making. This was repeated with and without time pressure. It was found that training resulted in more effective decision making only under the ‘no time pressure’ condition. Under time pressure the training did not improve the quality of decision making at all, and the effectiveness of the decisions was significantly lower than under no time pressure. It was concluded that specific training methods should be designed to help decision makers improve their decisions under time pressure.