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Many college students have difficulty with decision making and personal change. In this study, we examine the impact of a fill-in-the-node spatial display that college students complete while considering alternatives and action plans related to dilemmas and behavior change. College students who utilized the cognitive tool reported greater positive expectations for future decision making and personal change than did those in a problem-based writing group and a no treatment group. Implications for academic advisors are discussed.

Numerous examples of unethical organizational decision-making highlighted in the media have led many to question the general moral perception and ethical judgments of individuals. The present study examined two forms of a straightforward ethical decision-making (EDM) tool (ACED IT cognitive map) that could be a relatively simple instrument for organizations to improve the moral and EDM of its members. Results revealed that participants utilizing either form of ACED IT were more likely to identify a moral dilemma than were control participants. Additionally, participants in the modified condition responded differently to the situation. Implications and other findings are discussed.

Self-efficacy is the assessment of one's capacity to perform tasks. Previous research has demonstrated that self-efficacy impacts ethical behavior and attitudes but its effect on ethical cognition and perceptions has not been studied. For the present study, participants analyzed an ethical dilemma after either high or low self-efficacy was induced. Participants analyzed the dilemma using one of two cognitive problem-solving techniques (a structured cognitive tool or an unstructured cognitive technique) versus a third, control group, and what participants wrote about the problem was content-analyzed to determine how ethical cognition is impacted by selfefficacy. Additionally, perceptions of the ethical problem were examined. Results revealed that differences in self-efficacy did not lead to changes in ethical cognition, but they did lead to changes in perceptions of ethical problems. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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