Influence of Self-Esteem on Stopping Rule Decision-Making

One of the most important topics in the decision making domain is how individual subjects determine to stop evidence collection and make effective decisions. This is defined as the stopping rule problem. To answer this problem, researchers have focused on developing successful models for stopping rules, usually from the point of optimal (or suboptimal) decision performance. In the current study, we explored whether self-esteem could be used to explain individual differences in decision making. In particular, whether self-esteem could be used to develop personality driven decision making strategies. We manipulated self-esteem, through false feedback on a “Critical Thinking” exam, to assess how participants’ stopping decision behavior (deferred decision task, measuring decision accuracy, and the number of recommendations opened) would be affected. By exploring this relationship, we find that personality enables us to better understand decision-making processes involving stopping rules