Employing a Choice Set Measure to Expand Subjective Decision-Making: An Interdisciplinary Approach

• In Event: Situational Context, Motivation and Offender Decision Making

Abstract

Rational choice and offender decision-making is premised upon each individual weighing their subjectively-constructed choice set of options prior to behaving. However, approaches that test these perspectives have failed to measure the full range of options each individual perceives within their choice set. As Apel (2022) recently noted, this precludes an understanding of the decision-making processes one engages in based upon the options one considers within their own choice as compared to options that are provided by the researcher. Scholars studying subjective option generation in the fields of neuroscience and psychology have provided theoretical and methodological evidence on the utility of a measure that directly elicits each individual’s own subjectively-derived choice set of options. I leverage this interdisciplinary scholarship to develop a measure of the choice set of perceived options that can be applied to criminological settings. Using a community sample of adults, respondents were randomly assigned to one of two vignettes and were asked to list the options that they perceived to have available to act upon. Extensive heterogeneity was found in the types of options considered (pure criminal, hybrid, pure conformist, abstain) and the composition of one’s complete choice set. Theoretical implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Author

• Matthew Kijowski, University at Albany, SUNY