IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/medema/v28y2008i6p850-865.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Theory of Medical Decision Making and Health: Fuzzy Trace Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Valerie F. Reyna

    (Departments of Human Development and Psychology, CornellUniversity, Ithaca, New York, vr53@cornell.edu)

Abstract

The tenets of fuzzy trace theory are summarized with respect to their relevance to health and medical decision making. Illustrations are given for HIV prevention, cardiovascular disease, surgical risk, genetic risk, and cancer prevention and control. A core idea of fuzzy trace theory is that people rely on the gist of information, its bottom-line meaning, as opposed to verbatim details in judgment and decision making. This idea explains why precise information (e.g., about risk) is not necessarily effective in encouraging prevention behaviors or in supporting medical decision making. People can get the facts right, and still not derive the proper meaning, which is key to informed decision making. Getting the gist is not sufficient, however. Retrieval (e.g., of health-related values) and processing interference brought on by thinking about nested or overlapping classes (e.g., in ratio concepts, such as probability) are also important. Theory-based interventions that work (and why they work) are presented, ranging from specific techniques aimed at enhancing representation, retrieval, and processing to a comprehensive intervention that integrates these components.

Suggested Citation

  • Valerie F. Reyna, 2008. "A Theory of Medical Decision Making and Health: Fuzzy Trace Theory," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 28(6), pages 850-865, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:28:y:2008:i:6:p:850-865
    DOI: 10.1177/0272989X08327066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X08327066
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0272989X08327066?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James O. Prochaska, 2008. "Decision Making in the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 28(6), pages 845-849, November.
    2. Stone, Eric R. & Yates, J. Frank & Parker, Andrew M., 1994. "Risk Communication: Absolute versus Relative Expressions of Low-Probability Risks," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 387-408, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. de Jong, Piet & Tickle, Leonie & Xu, Jianhui, 2020. "A more meaningful parameterization of the Lee–Carter model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-8.
    2. John McClure & David Johnston & Liv Henrich & Taciano Milfont & Julia Becker, 2015. "When a hazard occurs where it is not expected: risk judgments about different regions after the Christchurch earthquakes," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(1), pages 635-652, January.
    3. Schmidt, Ulrich & Zimper, Alexander, 2003. "Security and potential level preferences with thresholds," Papers 03-29, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    4. Bonnie Spring, 2008. "Health Decision Making: Lynchpin of Evidence-Based Practice," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 28(6), pages 866-874, November.
    5. Schlosser, Ann E., 2018. "What are my chances? An imagery versus discursive processing approach to understanding ratio-bias effects," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 112-124.
    6. Dorte Gyrd-Hansen & Ivar Sønbø Kristiansen & Jørgen Nexøe & Jesper Bo Nielsen, 2002. "Effects of Baseline Risk Information on Social and Individual Choices," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 22(1), pages 71-75, February.
    7. Suk, Kwanho & Hwang, Sanyoung & Jeong, Yunjoo, 2022. "The 1-in-X effect in perceptions of risk likelihood differences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Pia K. Markkanen & Rebecca J. Gore & Susan R. Sama & John E. Lindberg & Catherine J. Galligan & Margaret M. Quinn, 2024. "Coaching Home Care Clients to Prepare Their Homes for Safe Care Visits: A Mixed-Methods Study to Evaluate a Nurse-Led Educational Intervention Process," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-21, March.
    9. Howard Kunreuther, 2001. "Risk Analysis and Risk Management in an Uncertain World," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 02-08, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    10. Haresh Gurnani & Karthik Ramachandran & Saibal Ray & Yusen Xia, 2014. "Ordering Behavior Under Supply Risk:An Experimental Investigation," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 61-75, February.
    11. Stone, Eric R. & Sieck, Winston R. & Bull, Benita E. & Frank Yates, J. & Parks, Stephanie C. & Rush, Carolyn J., 2003. "Foreground:background salience: Explaining the effects of graphical displays on risk avoidance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 19-36, January.
    12. Michael B. Blank & Michael Hennessy, 2012. "A Reasoned Action Approach to HIV Prevention for Persons with Serious Mental Illness," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 640(1), pages 173-188, March.
    13. Tooba Batool & Veerle Ross & Jade Van Blerk & An Neven & Paul Dendale & Davy Janssens & Geert Wets & Kris Brijs, 2024. "Promoting Sustainable Transportation: A Transtheoretical Examination of Active Transport Modes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-22, January.
    14. Melissa L. Finucane & Joan L. Holup, 2006. "Risk as Value: Combining Affect and Analysis in Risk Judgments," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 141-164, March.
    15. Schmidt, Ulrich & Zimper, Alexander, 2003. "Security And Potential Level Preferences With," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 03-29, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    16. Marielle Brunette, 2012. "Do risk communication methods perform to generate rationality?," Working Papers - Cahiers du LEF 2012-01, Laboratoire d'Economie Forestiere, AgroParisTech-INRA.
    17. Ulrich Schmidt & Horst Zank, 2022. "Chance theory: A separation of riskless and risky utility," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 1-32, August.
    18. Habib, Muhammad Danish & Alghamdi, Aseel & Sharma, Veenu & Mehrotra, Ankit & Badghish, Saeed, 2024. "Diet or lifestyle: Consumer purchase behavior of vegan retailing. A qualitative assessment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. Valerie F. Reyna, 2008. "Theories of Medical Decision Making and Health: An Evidence-Based Approach," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 28(6), pages 829-833, November.
    20. Parenreng, Syarifuddin Mabe & Pujawan, Nyoman & Karningsih, Putu Dana & Engelseth, Per, 2016. "Mitigating Risk in the Tuna Supply through Traceability System Development," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-24, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:28:y:2008:i:6:p:850-865. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.