Eastwood, Joseph and Luther, Kirk (2016) What you should want from your professional : The impact of educational information on people’s attitudes toward simple actuarial tools. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 47 (6). pp. 402-412. ISSN 0735-7028
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Abstract
The ability to increase positive attitudes toward the usage of simple actuarial tools by presenting educational information regarding the benefits of such tools (i.e., accurate and efficient) was assessed. Using a 2 (accuracy information vs. no accuracy information) × 2 (efficiency information vs. no efficiency information) between-participants design, participants were presented with details of a simple actuarial decision-making tool in either a medical scenario (Study 1; N = 404) or a legal scenario (Study 2; N = 325), and asked to report their attitudes toward the tool. Results from both studies showed that informing people of the benefits of simple actuarial tools led to increases in levels of satisfaction and willingness to adopt the tools, as well as increased ratings regarding the fairness and ethicalness of the tools. The initial acceptance of the tool and relative impact of the type of educational information, however, did differ across the 2 scenarios. Implications for the implementation of simple actuarial tools in real world decision-making contexts are discussed.