Barbara Mellers - US grants

This proposal outlines a series of experiments that would explore important questions of judgment and choice under uncertainty and contribute to the understanding of basic decision processes. Central to the study is the development and testing of a theory of response mode effects that will provide new insights regarding alternative explanations for preference reversals in choice, including regret theory and contingent weighting. This topic is receiving a great deal of attention from researchers because of the implications for the study of decision making if systematically different rank orders are obtained depending on the choice between formally equivalent assessment procedures. Thus the project also has general theoretical importance, for the study of contextual effects on decision processes, as well as practical implications for the development of improved decision- aiding tools. Three studies are proposed that extend earlier work of the principal investigator to provide new information on the stability and consistency of preferences and decisions, based on experiments conducted under a variety of conditions and in a variety of contextual settings.

This project studies the effects of similarity on individual judgement and choice. Three sets of experiments are proposed. The first set of experiments investigates multiattribute stimuli with similar levels along one dimension and dissimilar levels on another. The hypothesis that similarity along one dimension will enhance differences along another dimension is tested. The second set of experiments investigates the effect of the stimulus range on attribute importance. The hypothesis that similarity along a stimulus dimension will decrease the importance of that dimension is tested. The third set of studies examines similarity between stimulus and response scales and tests the conjecture that when a stimulus dimension is more closely related to the response scale, that stimulus will receive greater weight to the extent that it is perceived to be more valid. When the validity of the stimulus is unconfounded with response scale similarity, the more valid cue is weighted more heavily. By contributing to a better understanding of how individuals evaluate multiattribute items, this project may lead to more realistic models of individual valuation for use in decision making, marketing and voting. ***//

`Evaluating the Outcomes of Risky Options`. Rational choice theory assumes that the utility derived from receiving an outcome as a result of a decision depends only upon the value of that outcome - winning $10 is the same whether the alternative possibility was winning $1000 or losing $1000. As such, emotions such as regret or rejoicing, disappointment or elation, which inherently involve comparisons of what is with what might have been, play no role in choice. In prior research, the PI has examined how such emotions influence individuals' feelings regarding the outcomes they receive. The present proposal seeks funds to continue this research. Specifically, three sets of experiments are outlined. The first test implications of the model of emotion developed by the PI based on earlier research. The second set of experiments examine the extent to which anticipated emotions may not only influence ex post evaluations of happiness or dissatisfaction with outcomes but also influence the decisions people make. The final set of experiments examine the influence of anticipated emotions in richer and more diverse contexts.

This award provides funding for a 50-station Experimental Social Sciences Laboratory with the primary role of studying individual and group behavior. The main intellectual merit of the Lab is that it facilitates efforts to synthesize models of behavior that cut across traditional disciplinary lines-that is, the mission of the Lab is to foster interdisciplinary experiments drawn from across the social sciences. Previously, a division of labor has arisen between researchers developing theory in the area of individual and group behavior and those performing experiments. This division is anachronistic. One of the intellectual merits of the proposal is that it seeks to abolish this division by dramatically lowering the barriers to conducting experiments. The design of the Lab emphasizes maximum flexibility at minimum hassle so as to accommodate highly varied approaches to conducting experiments. The physical configuration of the lab stations will be highly mobile, and the computing environment will make it a Lab without wires. The Lab will be staffed with a full-time lab manager and part-time programmer so that the creativity of the researcher, and not administration tasks, is the binding constraint to research productivity. Together, this design approach provides a highly customizable setting for researchers across disciplines. Similarly, the Lab will develop web-based and highly flexible software for the implementation of experiments without the need for programming expertise on the part of researchers. This software development effort, which is already underway, will be done in collaboration with experts at HP Labs.

The Lab benefits the research lives of faculty at UC Berkeley as well as attracting visitors from other institutions from across all fields of the social sciences. An important part of these efforts to attract outside scholars centers on our development of a program to train young scholars in the field of behavioral economics in conjunction with a successful program in this area run out ofUC Berkeley under the auspices of the Russell Sage Foundation. In addition to research, the broader impact of the Lab will occur in the areas of education and application. The Lab would contribute to the education of graduate and undergraduate students by augmenting discussion of important findings relating to behavior with hand-on experience,' thus enriching their educational experience and giving them an additional tool when entering the labor force upon graduation. The results and fmdings of the Lab are likely to have important market and policy implications which might come to be incorporated in practice.

UC Berkeley is uniquely positioned to exploit synergies arising from an interdisciplinary approach to experiments in individual and group behavior. The proposal has sparked strong interest from researchers at UC Berkeley in economics, psychology, political science, as well as in fields as far-reaching as computer science, engineering, information systems, and business. Finally, the Lab is in a position to exploit Berkeley's large and diverse student population, making it particularly amenable to studies involving gender and historically underrepresented minorities.