Goals and Plans in Protective Decision Making

Protective decisions are often puzzling. Among other anomalies, people insure against non-catastrophic events, underinsure against catastrophic risks, and allow extraneous factors to influence insurance purchases and other protective decisions. Neither expected utility theory nor prospect theory can explain these anomalies satisfactorily. We propose a constructed-choice model for general decision making. The model departs from utility theory and prospect theory in its treatment of multiple goals and it suggests several different ways in which context can affect choice. To apply this model to the above anomalies, we consider many different insurance-related goals, organized in a taxonomy, and we consider the effects of context on goals, resources, plans and decision rules. The paper concludes by suggesting some prescriptions for improving individual decision making with respect to protective measures.

A theory of context effects based on cross-context matching

In cross-context matching, an observer reports that some stimulus elements, seen in one context, match other stimulus elements, see in a different context. The effect of changing from context S to context T defines a function gS,T, where gS,T(A) = B if stimulus A in T matches B in S.The description of context changes by functions is particularly powerful when there exist a semigroup of transformations of the stimulus elements that exhibits a special property called context-invariance. In this case, the functions gS,T are affine transformations of commutative groups. This means that knowledge of some effects of a context change can be used, via the group structure, to predict other effects. Predictive power is increased further when the contexts themselves are related by transformations that leave cross-context matching invariant; and the greatest power is obtained when stimuli and contexts have vector structure, as with color stimuli. Some previous theories of context effects in color are discussed from the standpoint of different semigroups of context-invariant transformations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33216/1/0000605.pd

Rational distance functions for multidimensional scaling

A rational distance function is a numerical measure of psychological distance whose geometric properties are deducible from psychological truths about some particular judgmental task. In this paper, we review two theoretical analyses that have led to proposed rational distance functions. These analyses are based on two different tasks: paired-associate learning and similarity judgments. A generalization of the theory on similarity judgments is presented.Empirical results concerning similarity judgments seriously conflict with the basic psychological assumptions in the generalized treatment of similarity judgments. We conclude form these results that the construction of valid psychologically-based distance functions from analysis of choice probabilities in similarity judgments requires, as an initial step, the development of scaling models that take into account the influence of "irrelevant" dimensions on choice probability.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33323/1/0000719.pd

Integration of just-noticeable differences

Fechner deduced his logarithmic law from Weber's Law by integrating the equation du = dx/kx. Since the work of Luce and Edwards, this method has been regarded as incorrect. Reexamination shows that the method can be reformulated and justified in a rigorous manner.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33543/1/0000042.pd

Color measurement and color theory: I. Representation theorem for Grassmann structures

For trichromatic color measurement, the empirically based structure consists of the set of colored lights, with its operations of additive mixture and scalar multiplication, and the binary relation of metameric matching. The representing numerical structure is a vector space. The important axioms are Grassmann's laws. The vector representation is constructed in a canonical or coordinate-free manner, mainly using Grassmann's additivity law. Trichromacy is used only to fix the dimensionality.Color theories attempt to get a more unique homomorphism by enriching the basic empirical structure with new empirical relations, subject to new axioms. Examples of such enriching relations include: discriminability or dissimilarity ordering of color pairs; dichromatic matching relations; and unidimensional matching relations, or codes. Representation theorems for the latter two examples are based on Grassmann-type laws also. The relationship between a Grassmann structure and its unidimensional Grassmann codes is modeled by the relationship between a vector space and its dual space of linear functionals. Dual spaces are used to clarify theorems relating to the three-pigment hypothesis and to reduction dichromacy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22011/1/0000426.pd

Atlantic Coast and Inner Shelf

The continental margin of Virginia, and of North America more broadly, is the physical transition from the high elevation of the continent to the low of the ocean basin. This transition was created as rifting pulled apart the ancient supercontinent Pangaea to create the Atlantic Ocean basin. Tectonic forces fractured and stretched the bedrock to create a stair-step ramp that subsequently would be mantled with sediment built up by erosion and transport off the continent. The Coastal Plain and Continental Shelf of Virginia are contiguous and discrete physiographic provinces of the continental margin delimited by the present elevation of sea level. On geologic time scales of thousands to millions of years, the coastal zone—the boundary between the coastal plain and shelf—is dynamic and migrates hundreds of kilometers landward and seaward. Today, the Atlantic shore of Virginia lies just past halfway across the margin: about 150 km (93 mi) from the edge of the Piedmont at the Fall Zone, and about 100 km (62 mi) from the seaward edge of the shelf (Figure 1). The modern coastal zone occupies nearly the same position as during several previous interglacial highstands of sea level that have recurred at approximately 100,000-year (abbreviated 100 ky, for “kilo year”) intervals since the middle Pleistocene (about the last 750 ky). more ...https://scholarworks.wm.edu/vimsbooks/1116/thumbnail.jp

The dimensional representation and the metric structure of similarity data

A set of ordinal assumptions, formulated in terms of a given multidimensional stimulus set, is shown to yield essentially unique additive difference measurement of dissimilarity, or psychological distance. According to this model, dissimilarity judgments between multidimensional objects are regarded as composed of two independent processes: an intradimensional subtractive process, and an interdimensional additive process. Although the additive difference measurement model generalizes traditional metric models, the conditions under which it satisfies the metric axims impose severe restrictions on the measurement scales. The implications of the results for the representation of similarity data by metric and/or dimensional models are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32692/1/0000059.pd

Metrics and geodesics induced by order relations

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46255/1/209_2005_Article_BF01115107.pd

Similarity of rectangles: An analysis of subjective dimensions

Two defining properties of psychological dimensions (intradimensional subtractivity and interdimensional additivity) are introduced and their consequences, formulated in terms of an ordinal dissimilarity scale, are derived. These consequences are investigated using dissimilarity judgments between rectangles to determine which of two alternative dimensional structures area (A) and shape (S), or width (W) and height (H), satisfies additivity and/or subtractivity. The results show that neither dimensional structure is acceptable, although A x S provides a better account for the data of most Ss than does W x H. Tests of relative straightness show that A is the least "curved" of the four attributes. Methodological and substantive implications of the study are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22125/1/0000552.pd

Public policy for thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy justifications influences their support

Past research has shown that people consistently believe that others are more easily manipulated by external influences than they themselves are—a phenomenon called the “third-person effect” (Davison, 1983). The present research investigates whether support for public policies aimed at changing behavior using incentives and other decision “nudges” is affected by this bias. Across two studies, we phrased justification for public policy initiatives using either the second- or third-person plural. In Study 1, we found that support for policies is higher when their justification points to people in general rather than the general “you”, and in Study 2 we found that this former phrasing also improves support compared to a no-justification control condition. Policy support is mediated by beliefs about the likelihood of success of the policies (as opposed to beliefs about the policies’ unintended consequences), and, in the second-person condition, is inversely related to a sense of personal agency. These effects suggest that the third-person effect holds true for nudge-type and incentive-based public policies, with implications for their popular support