The Effects Of Information Ambiguity,Time Constraints,and The Need For Cognitive Closure On Career Decision-making Processes

Career decision has always been one of the most important human decisions,making a good career decision is a more difficult task,how to make a suitable career decision in the face of time constraints,ambiguous and uncertain information is a crucial thing for job seekers.Some researchers believe that most people are ambiguity-averse;however,some studies have shown that some individuals have a high tolerance for ambiguity.High and low cognitive closure in the career decision-making process requires that individuals facing information ambiguity will use different decision-making strategies.Some researchers suggest that time constraint has a negative effect on individuals’ career decision making process,and individuals will reduce the depth of information search and change the information search pattern to relieve the stress and anxiety caused by time constraint;other researchers suggest that time constraint has a positive effect on the decision making process,and time constraint can make individuals more focused in the decision making process.On the other hand,studies in cognitive psychology have also found that the need for cognitive closure is an important motivating factor for individuals to make ambiguous decisions in uncertain situations due to the uncertainty of information in the environment.Previous studies have shown that both individual differences and environmental factors have an impact on the decision-making process,and that environmental factors play an increasingly important role in the psychology and behavior of individuals.Therefore,this study attempts to investigate the joint role of cognitive closure needs(personal factors),information ambiguity,and time constraints(environmental factors)in influencing occupational decision making processes.This study proposes to apply a combination of mouse-tracking technology(information board paradigm)and eye-movement technology(moving window paradigm)to investigate the possible effects of time constraints,information ambiguity and individuals with different cognitive closure needs on career decision making process by using college students in a university as research subjects.Three sub-studies were designed for this study.Study 1 used a 2-(information ambiguity: information ambiguous,information not ambiguous)× 2(cognitive closure need: high,low)two-factor mixed experimental design to verify whether and what differences exist in the decision-making process between individuals with information ambiguity and high and low cognitive closure needs in a particular decision like career decision-making.In Study 2,we added the variable "time constraint" to Study 1 to investigate the effect of time constraint on the decision making process,using a three-factor mixed experimental design of 2(time constraint: with time constraint,without time constraint)× 2(information ambiguity:information ambiguous,information not ambiguous)× 2(cognitive closure need: high,low).experimental design.The results showed that there was a difference in the depth of search between individuals with high and low cognitive closure needs in career decision making,regardless of whether the information was ambiguous or not,and the difference in search patterns was not significant under the time-constrained condition.Study 3 used a more automated eye-movement technique to explore the career decision-making process,considering that the "time constraint" factor is subject to additional interference during mouse clicks in the mouse technique.Study 3 used a 2-(time-constrained: time-constrained,non-time-constrained)× 2(information ambiguity: information ambiguous,information not ambiguous)× 2(need for cognitive closure: high,low)three-factor mixed experimental design to continue to investigate the effect of the three-way interaction on the career decision-making process.The results showed that there were significant differences in the duration of gaze and number of gaze during career decision making process between time constraint,information ambiguity and cognitive closure need,and the number of eye-hopping transitions was not significantly different.The results showed that(1)information ambiguity and cognitive closure require significant differences in decision time and information search depth in occupational decision making process,and the differences in search patterns are not significant;(2)time limitation,information ambiguity and cognitive closure require significant differences in search depth in occupational decision making process,and the differences in search patterns are not significant;(3)time limitation affects both search depth and search patterns in occupational decision making process(4)A certain degree of time constraint increases the depth of information search in career decision making process for individuals with high cognitive closure needs.This study investigates the information processing styles and characteristics of individuals with different cognitive closure needs in the career decision making process.By understanding the effects of information ambiguity and time constraints on the career decision making process,this study can help individuals better understand themselves and improve their cognitive control in the career decision making process to reduce decision bias.At the same time,it can help individuals better understand how to search for information and use different strategies to increase their adaptability in different occupational environments,thus helping them to better adapt to the environment and make good career decisions.