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Find research to deepen how you understand work.

Starting a habit, listening to another person, turning experience into better judgment. Explore 67 academic publications in eight fields through questions from everyday work.

What the research found → Connections to your work

Each entry includes the study’s participants, methods and conditions. “Connection to this page” is our editorial interpretation informed by the research.

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Judgment, meaning & creativity

8 studies

Research on understanding events, reconsidering assumptions and choosing among possibilities. It combines theoretical accounts with findings examined in experiments and field settings.

Foundational theory and conceptual paper2005

Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking.

Positions sensemaking as a process of developing understanding through interaction and action, beyond adding an explanation after an event.

Connection to this page

Relates to this page's approach of comparing events, records and participants' accounts to update understanding of the work.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Draws on prior research to organize an account of how people in organizations put cues from events into words and develop understanding and action.
Scope and limitations
This is not an experiment comparing the effects of particular methods. Making sense of an event does not guarantee that the interpretation is correct.

Weick, K. E., Sutcliffe, K. M., & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking.

Organization Science, 16(4), 409–421

DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1050.0133

Integrative research review and theoretical framework2023

The Role of Language in Organizational Sensemaking: An Integrative Theoretical Framework and an Agenda for Future Research.

Describes language as shaping understanding of events by providing cognitive frames and through interpersonal interactions and ideas shared within organizations.

Connection to this page

Provides background for examining how people add meaning to the same words through differences in roles, contexts and interactions.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Collected and selected literature on language and organizational sensemaking through June 2022, organizing theoretical perspectives from 224 publications.
Scope and limitations
This review integrates theory and research. It is not an experiment estimating the effects of particular words or ways of speaking.

Whittle, A., Vaara, E., & Maitlis, S. (2023). The Role of Language in Organizational Sensemaking: An Integrative Theoretical Framework and an Agenda for Future Research.

Journal of Management, 49(6), 1807–1840

DOI: 10.1177/01492063221147295

Original experimental research1984

Considering the opposite: A corrective strategy for social judgment.

Prompts to consider possibilities opposite to one's current belief reduced judgment biases more than instructions simply to be fair.

Connection to this page

Relates to checking for missing evidence and asking whether another interpretation could explain the situation.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Two experiments examined evaluation of evidence about a social issue and hypothesis testing in forming impressions of people.
Scope and limitations
The findings concern particular social-judgment tasks. Considering an opposing view does not prevent every mistaken judgment.

Lord, C. G., Lepper, M. R., & Preston, E. (1984). Considering the opposite: A corrective strategy for social judgment.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(6), 1231–1243

DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.47.6.1231

Meta-analysis2009

Does incubation enhance problem solving? A meta-analytic review.

Taking a break from a problem helped on average, with larger effects for divergent-thinking tasks. Preparation and the cognitive demands of activities during the break were also related to outcomes.

Connection to this page

Offers a basis for reconsidering information and how to use time when thinking becomes stuck.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Examined the effects of setting a problem aside and returning to it, comparing problem types, preparation time and activities during the break.
Scope and limitations
The findings do not mean that resting solves every problem. Adequate preparation and conditions suited to the task matter.

Sio, U. N., & Ormerod, T. C. (2009). Does incubation enhance problem solving? A meta-analytic review.

Psychological Bulletin, 135(1), 94–120

DOI: 10.1037/a0014212

Meta-analysis2004

The effectiveness of creativity training: A quantitative review.

Well-designed programs showed performance improvements. Those emphasizing cognitive skills, their use and realistic practice relevant to the domain were relatively effective.

Connection to this page

Relates to designing practice that observes another person's work, tests unfinished ideas and develops questions and possibilities.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Combined 70 evaluation studies of creativity-development programs, examining differences in content and delivery.
Scope and limitations
The review integrates prior studies with diverse participants, measures and training. It does not guarantee effects from a brief idea-generation technique alone.

Scott, G., Leritz, L. E., & Mumford, M. D. (2004). The effectiveness of creativity training: A quantitative review.

Creativity Research Journal, 16(4), 361–388

DOI: 10.1080/10400410409534549

Original longitudinal experiments2015

Debiasing Decisions: Improved Decision Making With a Single Training Intervention.

Both interventions reduced biases on the measured tasks. The game, which included practice and personalized feedback, produced larger effects.

Connection to this page

Provides background for creating conditions to practice ways of thinking and check results, rather than explaining judgment solely through personality.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Two longitudinal experiments used a single game or video intervention addressing multiple cognitive biases, comparing outcomes immediately and at follow-ups two months or more later.
Scope and limitations
The findings concern the biases and tasks studied. Transfer to actual workplace judgments and organizational outcomes requires separate examination.

Morewedge, C. K., Yoon, H., Scopelliti, I., Symborski, C. W., Korris, J. H., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Debiasing Decisions: Improved Decision Making With a Single Training Intervention.

Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2(1), 129–140

DOI: 10.1177/2372732215600886

Original experimental research2001

Devil's advocate versus authentic dissent: Stimulating quantity and quality.

A genuinely dissenting minority produced better quantity and quality of solutions than any of the devil's advocate conditions.

Connection to this page

Provides background for inviting views not yet expressed in meetings and checking how others see the situation.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
Compared a minority genuinely holding a different opinion with three conditions involving a devil's advocate role, measuring the quantity and quality of solutions.
Scope and limitations
The findings concern a particular experimental task. They do not mean every use of a devil's advocate is ineffective.

Nemeth, C., Brown, K., & Rogers, J. (2001). Devil's advocate versus authentic dissent: Stimulating quantity and quality.

European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(6), 707–720

DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.58

Field forecasting study and intervention comparison2014

Psychological Strategies for Winning a Geopolitical Forecasting Tournament.

Training in probabilistic judgment and team collaboration were among the approaches linked to improved probability calibration and discrimination between events.

Connection to this page

Relates to recording the reasons and expectations behind a judgment, comparing them with actual responses and using the experience in later judgments.

Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
Participants and methods
During a two-year geopolitical forecasting tournament, examined training in probabilistic judgment, team sharing of information and reasons, and tracking of forecasting performance.
Scope and limitations
The findings concern probabilistic forecasts of geopolitical events. Selected high performers must be distinguished from intervention effects.

Mellers, B., Ungar, L., Baron, J., Ramos, J., Gurcay, B., Fincher, K., Scott, S. E., Moore, D., Atanasov, P., Swift, S. A., Murray, T., Stone, E., & Tetlock, P. E. (2014). Psychological Strategies for Winning a Geopolitical Forecasting Tournament.

Psychological Science, 25(5), 1106–1115

DOI: 10.1177/0956797614524255

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