593 research outputs found
Testing the 'standard' model of stochastic choice under risk
No full textModels of stochastic choice are intended to capture the substantial amount of noise observed in decisions under risk. We present an experimental test of one model, which many regard as the default—the Basic Fechner model. We consider one of the model’s key assumptions—that the noise around the subjective value of a risky option is independent of other features of the decision problem. We find that this assumption is systematically violated. However the main patterns in our data can be accommodated by a more recent variant of the Fechner model, or within the random preference framework
Physically inspired interactive music machines: making contemporary composition accessible?
No full textMuch of what we might call "high-art music" occupies the difficult end of listening for contemporary audiences. Concepts such as pitch, meter and even musical instruments often have little to do with such music, where all sound is typically considered as possessing musical potential. As a result, such music can be challenging to educationalists, for students have few familiar pointers in discovering and understanding the gestures, relationships and structures in these works. This paper describes on-going projects at the University of Hertfordshire that adopt an approach of mapping interactions within visual spaces onto musical sound. These provide a causal explanation for the patterns and sequences heard, whilst incorporating web interoperability thus enabling potential for distance learning applications. While so far these have mainly driven pitch-based events using MIDI or audio files, it is hoped to extend the ideas using appropriate technology into fully developed composition tools, aiding the teaching of both appreciation/analysis and composition of contemporary music
The willingness to pay — willingness to accept gap, the “endowment effect,” subject misconceptions, and experimental procedures for eliciting valuations : comment
No full textPlott and Zeiler (2005) report that the willingness-to-pay/willingness-to-accept disparity is absent for mugs in a particular experimental setting, designed to neutralize misconceptions about the procedures used to elicit valuations. This result has received sustained attention in the literature. However, other data from that same study, not published in that paper, exhibit a significant and persistent disparity when the same experimental procedures are applied to lotteries. We report new data confirming both results, thereby suggesting that the presence or absence of a disparity may be a more complex issue than some may have supposed. (JEL C91, D12, D81, D83
Modelling Noise and Imprecision in Individual Decisions
No full textWhen individuals take part in decision experiments, their answers are typically subject to some degree of noise / error / imprecision. There are different ways of modelling this stochastic element in the data, and the interpretation of the data can be altered radically, depending on the assumptions made about the stochastic specification. This paper presents the results of an experiment which gathered data of a kind that has until now been in short supply. These data strongly suggest that the 'usual' (Fechnerian) assumptions about errors are inappropriate for individual decision experiments. Moreover, they provide striking evidence that core preferences display systematic departures from transitivity which cannot be attributed to any 'error' story.Error Imprecision Preferences Transitivity
Do markets reveal preferences or shape them?
No full textWe contrast the proposition that markets reveal independently-existing preferences with the alternative possibility that they may help to shape them. Using demand-revealing experimental market institutions, we separate the shaping effects of price cues from the effects of market discipline. We find that individual valuations and prevailing prices are systematically affected by both exogenous manipulations of price expectations and endogenous but divergent price feedback. These effects persist to varying degrees, in spite of further market experience. In some circumstances, market experience may actually consolidate them. We discuss possible explanations for these effects of uninformative price cues on revealed preferences
Beyond choice : investigating the sensitivity and validity of measures of strength of preference
No full textMany experiments investigating different decision theories have relied heavily on pairwise choices between lotteries. These are easy to incentivise, but often yield only limited dichotomous information. This paper considers whether respondents’ judgments about their strength of preference (SoP) for one alternative over another can usefully supplement standard choice data. We report extensive evidence that such judgments show sensitivity to variations in question format and parameter values in the directions we should expect, not only within-subject but also between-sample. We illustrate how such judgments can usefully supplement standard pairwise choice data and enrich our understanding of observed behaviour
Modeling preference noise and response noise in risky choice: Commentary on Bhatia and Loomes (2017)
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Previous issue date: 2019-04-23Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 112194
Lift date: 2021-08-23T20:36:18Z
Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 112194 on 2021-08-24T09:15:10Z."Decision making research often heavily relies on deterministic modeling approaches. However, choice data are stochastic and therefore need to be modeled probabilistically. According to one probabilistic modeling approach, a decision maker has a fixed preference, but makes errors when selecting the utility-maximizing option. In another approach, a decision maker makes no errors, but his preference itself is probabilistic. Bhatia and Loomes (2017) refer to the first approach as ""response noise"" and the second approach as ""preference noise."" To avoid incorrect conclusions of a decision maker's underlying preferences, Bhatia and Loomes (2017) strongly advocate for modeling both types of noise simultaneously. In this commentary, we discuss the methods of Bhatia and Loomes (2017) and revisit a hybrid model, which models response and preference noise simultaneously, to address some limitations of these methods. Furthermore, we illustrate the hybrid model, discuss further refinements to the model, and illustrate model fit using data from hypothetical decision makers."Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2021-05-01The student, Bryanna Fields, accepted the attached license on 2019-04-22 at 20:15.The student, Bryanna Fields, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2019-04-22 at 20:25.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2019-04-23 at 17:39
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