Arbeitspapier

An experimental investigation of violations of transitivity in choice under uncertainty

Several models of choice under uncertainty imply systematic violations of transitivity of preference. Our experiments explored whether people show patterns of intransitivity predicted by these models. To distinguish "true" violations from those produced by "error", a model was fit in which each choice can have a different error rate and each person can have a different pattern of true preferences that does not need to be transitive. Error rate for a choice is estimated from preference reversals between repeated presentations of the same choice. Our results showed that very few people repeated intransitive patterns. We can retain the hypothesis that transitivity best describes the data of the vast majority of participants.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Kiel Working Paper ; No. 1396

Classification
Wirtschaft
Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
Subject
Errors
Regret theory
Transitivity
Decision making
Entscheidung bei Risiko
Präferenztheorie
Experiment
Theorie

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Birnbaum, Michael H.
Schmidt, Ulrich
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
(where)
Kiel
(when)
2008

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Birnbaum, Michael H.
  • Schmidt, Ulrich
  • Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)

Time of origin

  • 2008

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