{"title":"Impulsiveness moderates the effects of exogenous attention on the sensitivity to gains and losses in risky lotteries","authors":"Alejandro Hirmas, Jan B. Engelmann","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2023.102600","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Does attention have a causal impact on risky decisions? We address this question in a preregistered experiment in which participants accept or reject a series of mixed gambles while exogenously varying how information can be sampled. Specifically, in each trial participants observe the outcomes of a mixed-gamble with gains and losses presented sequentially. To isolate the causal role of attention on the decision process, we manipulate for how long a specific attribute is presented before showing the next one (e.g., 600 ms/800 ms vs 400 ms). Our results partially confirm our preregistered hypotheses that longer exposure to an attribute increases its weight on the decision. While we find no effects on choice frequency, we observe specific effects on the decision weights of our Random Utility Model. Presenting losses longer (for 600 ms, but not 800 ms) than gains (400 ms) leads to increased sensitivity for losses. When gains are presented for longer (600 ms and 800 ms) than losses (400 ms), the participants show increased sensitivity to both gain and loss values in their decision. Loss aversion reflects this trend across attention treatments, but differences remain non-significant. Further exploratory analyses show that specifically participants with higher impulsiveness become more sensitive to attribute values when gains are presented for longer. Jointly, these results support the notion that attention has a causal impact on the sensitivity to specific attributes during risky choice. Moreover, our results underline the moderating role of impulsiveness on the relationship between attention and choice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487023000016","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Does attention have a causal impact on risky decisions? We address this question in a preregistered experiment in which participants accept or reject a series of mixed gambles while exogenously varying how information can be sampled. Specifically, in each trial participants observe the outcomes of a mixed-gamble with gains and losses presented sequentially. To isolate the causal role of attention on the decision process, we manipulate for how long a specific attribute is presented before showing the next one (e.g., 600 ms/800 ms vs 400 ms). Our results partially confirm our preregistered hypotheses that longer exposure to an attribute increases its weight on the decision. While we find no effects on choice frequency, we observe specific effects on the decision weights of our Random Utility Model. Presenting losses longer (for 600 ms, but not 800 ms) than gains (400 ms) leads to increased sensitivity for losses. When gains are presented for longer (600 ms and 800 ms) than losses (400 ms), the participants show increased sensitivity to both gain and loss values in their decision. Loss aversion reflects this trend across attention treatments, but differences remain non-significant. Further exploratory analyses show that specifically participants with higher impulsiveness become more sensitive to attribute values when gains are presented for longer. Jointly, these results support the notion that attention has a causal impact on the sensitivity to specific attributes during risky choice. Moreover, our results underline the moderating role of impulsiveness on the relationship between attention and choice.
期刊介绍:
The Journal aims to present research that will improve understanding of behavioral, in particular psychological, aspects of economic phenomena and processes. The Journal seeks to be a channel for the increased interest in using behavioral science methods for the study of economic behavior, and so to contribute to better solutions of societal problems, by stimulating new approaches and new theorizing about economic affairs. Economic psychology as a discipline studies the psychological mechanisms that underlie economic behavior. It deals with preferences, judgments, choices, economic interaction, and factors influencing these, as well as the consequences of judgements and decisions for economic processes and phenomena. This includes the impact of economic institutions upon human behavior and well-being. Studies in economic psychology may relate to different levels of aggregation, from the household and the individual consumer to the macro level of whole nations. Economic behavior in connection with inflation, unemployment, taxation, economic development, as well as consumer information and economic behavior in the market place are thus among the fields of interest. The journal also encourages submissions dealing with social interaction in economic contexts, like bargaining, negotiation, or group decision-making. The Journal of Economic Psychology contains: (a) novel reports of empirical (including: experimental) research on economic behavior; (b) replications studies; (c) assessments of the state of the art in economic psychology; (d) articles providing a theoretical perspective or a frame of reference for the study of economic behavior; (e) articles explaining the implications of theoretical developments for practical applications; (f) book reviews; (g) announcements of meetings, conferences and seminars.