Context Matters: Emotional Sensitivity to Probabilities and the Bias for Action in Cancer Treatment Decisions
2023
The study investigates the commission bias in cancer treatment decisions and its association with emotional sensitivity to probabilities (ESP), which reflects how individuals gauge emotional reactions to probability information. Participants (N = 1,055) made hypothetical treatment choices between surgery and watchful waiting under varying mortality probabilities. Logistic regression analysis, incorporating the Possibility Probability Questionnaire (PPQ) and other individual differences, revealed a commission bias favoring surgery regardless of mortality probabilities. An interaction effect indicated that higher ESP predicted surgery choice when probabilities favored surgery but had negligible influence when watchful waiting was optimal. The findings suggest that ESP selectively influences decision-making contexts, with individuals exhibiting higher ESP still succumbing to the commission bias when probabilities align with surgical intervention. The methods involved scenario presentation, random assignment of mortality probabilities, and regression modeling incorporating ESP and other individual differences.
Source:
Lacey HP, Lacey SC, Bayal P et al. Context Matters: Emotional Sensitivity to Probabilities and the Bias for Action in Cancer Treatment Decisions. Medical Decision Making 2023; 43 (4): 419-429. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X231161341