Decision-making styles and physiological correlates of negative stress: is there a relation?
There are 5 independent, although not mutually exclusive, styles used by military officers when making decisions: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous (Scott & Bruce, 1995). The rational and intuitive styles are part of the cognitive style concept, whereas the conceptual foundation of the remaining 3 styles is less clear. The dependent and the avoidant styles were expected to be accompanied by increased levels of negative stress, while this was not expected of the remaining 3 styles. This hypothesis was put to test. Twenty-three male Swedish Army majors were asked to make decisions in 2 different military situations. Their decision styles were measured by the General Decision Making Style inventory (GDMS; Scott & Bruce, 1995). Saliva cortisol release indicated negative stress and was measured on 4 occasions: twice before, after the first decision, and after the second decision. The avoidant style was related to negative stress, as predicted. There was, however, no difference between the base-line measurements and the after-decision measurements, suggesting that officers with an avoidant decision style may, in general, have higher levels of cortisol secretion (i.e., being more of the worrying kind).
Thunholm
Peter
P
Department of War Studies, National Defence College, Stockholm, Sweden. peter.thunholm@fhs.se
D000328:Adult; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D019545:Intuition / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D011908:Rationalization; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden
D006854:Hydrocortisone