ABSTRACT
Decisions vary widely in importance for the decision maker. Many decisions are unimportant, such as everyday purchases. Such choices are routine actions, which need little thought. Other decisions are more important, and evoke active reasoning aimed at acquiring a satisfactory representation of attractiveness of options. Decisions may be important for many reasons. For instance, decisions are important when high costs are involved (e.g., buying a house), or when an outcome has far-reaching consequences (e.g., the choice of a career). A decision may also be important when it relates to a significant opinion or emotional value (e.g., voting for a political party). Motivation has received little attention in process approaches to decision making research (Larrick, 1993), and so has the role of involvement (e.g., Ford et al., 1989). In this chapter we discuss effects that various types of involvement may have in individual decision making processes.
