Influence of Intellectual Humility and Guilt on Decision-making Styles among Adults from Kerala

The present study was a correlational research design following a quantitative approach. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of intellectual humility and guilt towards the various decision-making styles and compare the findings between individuals belonging to young adulthood and middle adulthood. The data for the research was collected from 200 adults hailing from Kerala, India (n= 200, where young adulthood= 100 and middle adulthood = 100) using convenient sampling method. The tools used for the study were Comprehensive Intellectual Humility Scale (Krumrei-Mancuso & Rouse, 2016), General Decision-Making Questionnaire (Scott & Bruce, 1995), and Guilt and Shame Proneness scale (GASP) developed by Taya R. Cohen and Scott Wolff (2011). The results obtained were statistically analysed using IBM SPSS. Correlation, independent samples T-test and linear regression were used to interpret the data. The results show that Intellectual Humility has a significant relationship with Guilt among young adults whereas no such relationship exists between the two variables among those belonging to middle adulthood. Among young adults, it was discovered that there is a significant relationship between guilt and decision-making style as well whereas no such relationship exists between guilt and any of the five decision-making styles among those belonging to middle adulthood. It was found that Intellectual Humility has a significant impact on decision-making styles among young adults and middle adults. Guilt was found to be a predictor of decision-making styles among young adults but not among middle adults.