Off-campus Michigan Tech users: To download campus access theses or dissertations, please use the following button to log in with your Michigan Tech ID and password: log in to proxy server
Non-Michigan Tech users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis or dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Campus Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (PhD)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences
Advisor 1
Elizabeth Veinott
Advisor 2
Sonia Goltz
Committee Member 1
Shane Mueller
Committee Member 2
Briana Bettin
Committee Member 3
Adrienne Minerick
Abstract
Often, we quickly form and maintain theories (frames) about ambiguous situations, but there are circumstances where we need to change these frames. The Data-Frame Model of Sensemaking suggests that the first step to changing one’s frame is to question it. But how does one question their frame? Counterfactual thinking is one possible strategy to encourage questioning a frame, through prompting consideration of mutability within the situation and generating alternative frames. Through seven studies, this research explores people’s ability to question their frames naturally, tests a conceptual model of the role of counterfactual factors like mutability, ambiguity, and availability of alternatives in the questioning process, experimentally tests three mutability-based strategies to promote questioning one’s frame, and finally applies one of these strategies to the academic hiring context. This dissertation also reviews the literature on sensemaking, counterfactual thinking, motivated reasoning, and decision-making heuristics, and how these theories are related to the process or need for questioning a frame.
Recommended Citation
Lehman, Betsy R., "THE QUESTION OF QUESTIONING: STUDYING THE SENSEMAKING PROCESS IN AMBIGUOUS SCENARIOS", Campus Access Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2024.