O efeito de sobrecarga de escolha e o design: o impacto dos sistemas de processamento intuitivo e racional na satisfação do indivíduo

Abstract

The present study highlights the relevance to the design field provided by the interdisciplinary relationship between the concepts of product-service system (PSS) and choice overload, emphasizing the individual’s satisfaction as a common ground between both concepts. The PSS considers products and services as part of a unified system, which also includes other components such as communication, distribution, and other actors. The concept of choice overload relates to the decrease in satisfaction when a decision is made based on an extensive set of alternatives. The literature review suggests that the overload effect it is not only related to the number of alternatives involved in the choice task , but also to the different ways through which the individual can process information - intuition and reasoning. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of these forms of information processing information on the overload effect through an experimental method. In regards to data collection, the participants were exposed to a set of alternatives of a product (mp3 player), simultaneously manipulating the amount of products and also the characteristics that describe them. In addition, participants develop activities that lead to the specific usage of intuition or reasoning during the decision task, aiming to compare the results obtained by each system of cognitive processing. The results shows that intuition and reasoning evoke different patterns of processing that leads to the choice itself, thus the choice overload effect is not only activated due to an increase in the amount of alternatives involved in the decisionmaking task, but also on the individual's perception about the decision-making event. It is noteworthy that when the intuitive system is used, the individual’s satisfaction is negatively correlated to aspects assessed after the choice was made (frustration and regret). It was also revealed satisfaction through the reasoning system, besides having the same negative with frustration and regret, is also negatively correlated to the individual’s perceived complexity and burden towards the decision-making task (aspects that may be assessed prior to the decision moment).Therefore, it is concluded that satisfaction correlates with distinct variables according to the processing system utilized during the judgment and decisionmaking process.