The influence of regulatory focus and group vs. individual goals on the evaluation bias in the context of group decision making

•The evaluation bias is the tendency to prefer information confirming own decisions.•We examined motivational preconditions of this bias in group decision making.•Pursuing individual goals in a prevention focus enhanced the evaluation bias.•A promotion focus and the group goal to perform well worked against the evaluation bias.•The evaluation bias impaired memory for others' information and decision quality.

Making good decisions as a group requires the consideration of information exchanged during a discussion, but individuals' evaluation bias (i.e., discounting of information contradicting and appreciation of information supporting members' initial preference) works against that. The current research studied motivational preconditions of this bias. It was predicted that pursuing individual goals (e.g., making a good impression or a good decision as an individual after a group discussion) in a prevention focus leads to a stronger evaluation bias than pursuing the same type of goals in a promotion focus or pursuing the goal to perform well as a group with either a promotion or a prevention focus. Four experiments supported this prediction and demonstrated that the evaluation bias is indeed associated with lower memory for critical information and lower decision quality. Hence, group goals are crucial for group decision performance — in particular in contexts inducing a prevention focus (e.g., when security is at stake).