Adaptive Behavior And Implicit Learning Mechanism In Dynamic Group Decision Making

Group decision-making is an important form for strategic decisions in organizations. It can improve decision quality by adapting decision process dynamically and intelligently to various situations. Based on the theories of contingent decision behavior, multi-level team decision-making and implicit learning, this research focused on the adaptation process of the dynamic group decision-making. Four laboratory simulation experiments were designed to explore the adaptive decision behavior and its psychological mechanisms by using multi-person games and dynamic system control tasks.In the first experiment, the phase-related features of dynamic decision behavior and decision performance were studied. The results showed that performance feedback had significant effects on decision behavior. In the individual feedback format, decision behavior sequence demonstrated a phase-related pattern of "cooperation-competition-cooperation". Furthermore, in all four decision situations, the "condition-action" strategies showed a phase-related distribution. Subject's choice of decision strategies was based on the feedback from previous decisions, and the cognitive decision strategy distribution was varied with decision biases. The relationship between strategy change and decision performance was distributive rather than dominant. The main effects of action strategies on decision performance were mediated by decision conditions and group members' actions.The second experiment examined the cognitive transformation in dynamic decision and the cognition-behavior consistency. It showed that in both the complete and partial feedback conditions, information utilization pattern was varied over decision phases, and in turn influenced decision performance. The strategy production knowledge showed limited phase transformation. However, there was an inconsistency between perceived information utilization and actual information influence. Significant differences were also found between strategy production knowledge and actual strategy use. The limited consistency between cognition and behavior indicated that transformation of information utilization and strategic knowledge were the cognitive causes of the behavioral adaptation of decision-making,and that cognitive transformation was driven by an implicit process.The third experiment investigated the implicit learning process and the learning transfer in dynamic group decision-making. We used the individual decision task of dynamic system control in the group decision situation and designed a network computer simulation. The results indicated that subjects showed almost no change of the explicit knowledge on system rules even when their decision performance was improved. No significant correlation was found between the quantity of explicit knowledge and decision performance. Therefore, implicit learning took place in the dynamic group decision-making. It was also found that the implicit knowledge could be transferred to the decision situations using the same rule with different goals. Cognitive strategies had some effects on knowledge quantity but not on decision performance.The fourth experiment focused on the effects of knowledge sharing on implicit learning and group decision behavior. It showed that the explicit knowledge sharing had only partial and limited influence on implicit learning. Knowledge sharing could not result in the decrease of decision biases, but could reduce the response time. These results indicated the interaction among knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge transfer and implicit learning and its influence on the adaptation of group decision behavior.Finally, an implicit adaptation model of group decision behavior was proposed on the basis of these research findings.