ABSTRACT
People use a variety of strategies to accomplish most cognitive tasks. This strategic variability has been shown in various domains such as frequency judgments (Betsch, Siebler, Marz, Hormuth, & Dickenberger, 1999; Brown, 1995, 1997, 2002), numerosity judgments (Luwel & Verschaffel, 2003; Luwel, Verschaffel, Onghena, & de Corte, 2003), decision making (Payne, Bettman, & Johnson, 1988, 1993), answering questions from memory (Reder, 1987), or subtraction tasks (Siegler, 1987). To predict judgments and decisions, the crucial question is under which condition each strategy is used. Consequently, a lot of research has dealt with the question of strategy selection when solving cognitive tasks. Referring to decision-making research, Payne et al. (1993) identi-ed three factors that moderate strategy selection. The rst factor refers to features of the strategies such as the effort required to employ the strategy or its accuracy. Second, individual differences can inuence strategy selection (e.g., C. Betsch, chap. 14, this volume). In this chapter, I concentrate on the third factor Payne et al. (1993) discussed: contextual variations while the judgment or decision is made. These contextual factors might refer to task characteristics, such as the wording of questions (e.g., Blair & Burton, 1987; Reder, 1987), or situational demands such as time pressure. Severe time pressure can cause a shift from more effortful decision strategies, such as the weighted additive rule, to less effortful rules such as elimination by aspects (Tversky, 1972). According to The Adaptive Decision Maker (Payne et al., 1993) approach, a trade-off between effort and accuracy determines strategy choice. For a given situational constraint, the decision maker adopts the best strategy that is available in the strategy repertoire (see also
Betsch, Brinkmann, Fiedler, & Breining, 1999; Payne et al., 1988, 1993; Svenson & Maule, 1993; Weber & Lindemann, chap. 12, this volume).
