Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

2016 - 20202

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.Decision

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Role of Negative Outcome Expectations in Career Exploration and Decision-Making
    (2020) Ireland, Glenn W; Lent, Robert W; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study had two objectives. First, responding to calls for improved measurement of outcome expectations in the domain of career exploration and decision-making (Fouad & Guillen, 2006), a measure of outcome expectations was developed that incorporates Bandura’s (1997) conceptualization of both positive and negative outcomes, as well as classes of physical, social, and self-evaluative effects. Second, the replicability of the scale’s factor structure and evidence of its validity were examined. Social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent & Brown, 2013) was used to explore the theoretical relationships between positive and negative outcome expectations, and other domain-specific variables, including (a) self-efficacy, (b) learning experiences, (c) social support, and (d) career exploration goals. In addition to exploring direct relationships proposed by the SCCT career self-management model, negative outcome expectations were also explored for their theorized moderation of the relations of self-efficacy to goals and positive outcome expectations to goals. Data were collected via an online survey in two separate samples of college students who were in the process of making initial career decisions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the new outcome expectations measure indicated a 22-item, four-factor scale with distinct positive and negative factors. Subsequent measure and hypothesis testing analyses offered support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale in the samples, found that exploratory intentions was linked with both self-efficacy and positive outcome expectations, and indicated a potential moderator role for negative outcome expectations in these relationships.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding information use in multiattribute decision making
    (2016) Chrabaszcz, Jeffrey Stephen; Dougherty, Michael R; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    An inference task in one in which some known set of information is used to produce an estimate about an unknown quantity. Existing theories of how humans make inferences include specialized heuristics that allow people to make these inferences in familiar environments quickly and without unnecessarily complex computation. Specialized heuristic processing may be unnecessary, however; other research suggests that the same patterns in judgment can be explained by existing patterns in encoding and retrieving memories. This dissertation compares and attempts to reconcile three alternate explanations of human inference. After justifying three hierarchical Bayesian version of existing inference models, the three models are com- pared on simulated, observed, and experimental data. The results suggest that the three models capture different patterns in human behavior but, based on posterior prediction using laboratory data, potentially ignore important determinants of the decision process.