Bridging Individual, Interpersonal, and Institutional Approaches to Judgment and Decision Making: The Impact of Accountability on Cognitive Bias

Abstract

Research on accountability takes an unusual approach to the study of judg- ment and decision making. By situating decision makers within particular accountability conditions, it has begun to bridge individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels of analysis. We propose that this multilevel ap- proach can enhance both the study of judgment and choice and the appli- cation of such research to real-world settings. To illustrate the multilevel approach, we present a review of accountability research, organized around an enduring question in the literature: Under what conditions will ac- countability improve judgment and decision making? After considering the shortcomings of two seemingly straightforward answers to this ques- tion, we propose a multifactor framework for predicting when accountabil- ity attenuates bias, when it has no effect, and when it makes matters even worse. Key factors in this framework draw from multiple levels of analysis.