The psychology of evaluation

Robert Picciotto

Evaluation and Program Planning, 2022, vol. 94, issue C

Abstract: Recent advances in cognitive and behavioral psychology have yet to be widely appreciated let alone put to used by evaluators. Yet, they are highly relevant to high quality evaluative practice. In particular, Kahneman's scholarly contributions to psychology and economics should be required reading for evaluators. They help to manage evaluation anxiety and when put to work they make evaluation utilization more likely. Breakdowns in rationality affect decision making among evaluands in ways that Kahneman's experiments have illuminated. Such judgment flaws also undermine the validity of evaluators' judgment: evaluators are not immune from the vagaries of System 1 quick thinking. Adopting System 2 'slow thinking' should be conceived as a core evaluator competency,

Keywords: Behavioral psychology; Cognitive psychology; System 1 quick thinking; System 2 slow thinking; Good cop bad cop method; Evaluation anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:epplan:v:94:y:2022:i:c:s014971892200074x

DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2022.102120

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