Temporal drivers of heterogeneity: understanding the role of "when" in cognition and decision-making

Fedrigo, Virginia (2024) Temporal drivers of heterogeneity: understanding the role of "when" in cognition and decision-making. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

Behavioural science researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have realised how important is to characterize the various drivers of heterogeneity of human behaviour within populations in order to understand intra- and inter individual differences and create better interventions. This thesis examines temporal drivers of heterogeneity, focusing on when decisions are made, especially looking at the day of the week. The day of the week has been shown to affect individual cognition and decision-making, and this is termed the ‘day of the week effect’. This thesis examines the antecedents (paper 1), the potential causes (paper 2), the manifestations (paper 3), and extended applications (paper 4) of the day of the week effect. The first paper reveals that at the start of the day, individual thoughts are largely uniform across the days of the week, focusing on the day ahead and on a to do list. The second paper finds that both individual awareness of the days of the week as well as societal meaning of the days of the week are needed for the days to influence an individual. The third paper finds that the day of the week does not influence engagement with health information. The fourth paper finds that the day of the week does not affect established decision-making patterns or strategies, suggesting that it may only affect certain domains of cognition and decision-making. Overall, this thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion of heterogeneity within behavioural science, in particular adding to the understanding of the day of the week effect.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 2024 Virginia Fedrigo
Library of Congress subject classification:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Sets:	Departments > Psychological and Behavioural Science
Supervisor:	Galizzi, Matteo M. and Fasolo, Barbara
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4741

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