The effect of outcome information on the evaluation and recall of individuals' own decisions

In this paper, we address two questions about the possible effects of information concerning a decision's outcome, First, we examine whether outcome information influences individuals' evaluations of their own decisions, Second, we examine whether outcome information affects people's recall of their own decision making processes, In four experiments, participants chose between two scholarship applicants, Afterwards, the same individuals received either good, bad, or no outcome information relevant to their decisions, They also answered a series of questions concerning their evaluation and recall of their decision making processes, Results show that outcome information does influence participants' evaluations of their decision making processes, However, it has much less of an effect on their memory for those processes, particularly when memory is assessed using specific questions about the processes used in making the decision. Implications for research relying on retrospective self-reports of people's decision processes are discussed. (C) 1997 Academic Press.