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Cognitive Adaptation (cognitive + adaptation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting100%

Selected Abstracts

Avoiding Accounting Fixation: Determinants of Cognitive Adaptation to Differences in Accounting Method,

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005
DAVID T. DEARMAN
Abstract Much research over the last 30 years has provided evidence that individuals display accounting fixation; that is, their cognitive process does not appropriately adapt to cross-sectional or temporal differences in an accounting method. This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental test of the hypothesis that cognitive adaptation to a change in accounting method is an ordinal interactive function of three person characteristics: relevant accounting knowledge, general problem-solving ability, and intrinsic motivation to appropriately engage in the decision task. Based on a product-pricing decision task in which participants are provided with product costs reported by two generally employed product-costing methods (activity-based costing [ABC] and volume-based costing), the results show that the majority of participants did not change their cognitive behavior when there was a change in the costing method. Further, those participants who did adapt to the change in accounting method, and thus avoided accounting fixation, did so by debiasing costs reported by volume-based costing but not by ABC. Finally, these adapters generally exhibited high values for all three of the person characteristics compared with those who did not adapt. [source]

Cognitive adaptations for n -person exchange: the evolutionary roots of organizational behavior

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 2-3 2006
John Tooby
Organizations are composed of stable, predominantly cooperative interactions or n -person exchanges. Humans have been engaging in n -person exchanges for a great enough period of evolutionary time that we appear to have evolved a distinct constellation of species-typical mechanisms specialized to solve the adaptive problems posed by this form of social interaction. These mechanisms appear to have been evolutionarily elaborated out of the cognitive infrastructure that initially evolved for dyadic exchange. Key adaptive problems that these mechanisms are designed to solve include coordination among individuals, and defense against exploitation by free riders. Multi-individual cooperation could not have been maintained over evolutionary time if free riders reliably benefited more than contributors to collective enterprises, and so outcompeted them. As a result, humans evolved mechanisms that implement an aversion to exploitation by free riding, and a strategy of conditional cooperation, supplemented by punitive sentiment towards free riders. Because of the design of these mechanisms, how free riding is treated is a central determinant of the survival and health of cooperative organizations. The mapping of the evolved psychology of n -party exchange cooperation may contribute to the construction of a principled theoretical foundation for the understanding of human behavior in organizations. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Avoiding Accounting Fixation: Determinants of Cognitive Adaptation to Differences in Accounting Method,

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005
DAVID T. DEARMAN
Abstract Much research over the last 30 years has provided evidence that individuals display accounting fixation; that is, their cognitive process does not appropriately adapt to cross-sectional or temporal differences in an accounting method. This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental test of the hypothesis that cognitive adaptation to a change in accounting method is an ordinal interactive function of three person characteristics: relevant accounting knowledge, general problem-solving ability, and intrinsic motivation to appropriately engage in the decision task. Based on a product-pricing decision task in which participants are provided with product costs reported by two generally employed product-costing methods (activity-based costing [ABC] and volume-based costing), the results show that the majority of participants did not change their cognitive behavior when there was a change in the costing method. Further, those participants who did adapt to the change in accounting method, and thus avoided accounting fixation, did so by debiasing costs reported by volume-based costing but not by ABC. Finally, these adapters generally exhibited high values for all three of the person characteristics compared with those who did not adapt. [source]

Cognitive dissonance, status and growth of the underclass,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 498 2004
Robert J. Oxoby
We present a model of cognitive adaptation to examine the growth and behaviours of the underclass. In the model, individuals experiencing cognitive dissonance between status seeking and social recognition adapt their attitudes regarding what is deemed status worthy. This yields the endogenous formation of an underclass in which non-pecuniary social returns counteract the effect of traditional incentives (i.e. wages) in motivating behaviour. By gaining insight into the process of psychological adaptation of those living in poverty, the paper sheds light on economic policies that mitigate the disenfranchisement and hence the growth of the underclass. [source]

Envy and positional bias in the evolutionary psychology of management

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 2-3 2006
Sarah E. Hill
We propose that humans have evolved at least two specialized cognitive adaptations shaped by selection to solve problems associated with resource competition: (1) a positional bias by which individuals judge success in domains that affect fitness in terms of standing relative to their reference group; and (2) envy, an emotion that functions to alert individuals to fitness-relevant advantages enjoyed by rivals and to motivate individuals to acquire those same advantages. We present new data supporting the existence of design features of these hypothesized psychological adaptations and discuss implications for economists, organizations, marketers, and managers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]