Why Do Individuals Nondecide under Uncertainty?

Abstract

a. This WP continues the investigation in WP 84-3. There, they found that influence accepted by an actor S was negatively related to a central person’s (C) power even if S did not know how C’s preferences or how likely C was to use the power. They attempt to distinguish two explanations: (1) S infers C’s preferences and the probability that C will use the power from C’s structural position or (2) that uncertainty itself causes S to avoid action regardless of any inferences that S might make. Results of a vignette study with college student respondents generally favored the second explanation, though the authors discuss several reasons to be cautious about interfering strict similarity of results from behavioral experiments and vignettes.