day 3 decision-making strategies. 2 used for multi-attribute choices where the choices are...
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MARK 5342 Advanced Topics
Day 3Decision-Making Strategies
2
Compensatory Strategies
3
Rules of Compensatory Strategies
Used for multi-attribute choices where the choices are comprised of multiple dimensions
People trade off low values on one dimension for high values on another dimension
Different types of compensatory strategies Linear model Additive Difference model Ideal point model
4
Linear Model
Each dimension is weighted according to its importance
The weighted values are summed to form an overall index of value
This is one of the foundations of choice modeling
Based on expected utility theory
5
Additive Differences Model Each choice alternative is evaluated on all
dimensions The first step is looking at all alternatives
for a single dimension The differences are weighted and summed It simplifies the choice (eliminates
unnecessary information) Tends to seem closer to how people make
decisions Based on satisficing theory
6
Ideal Point Model
Comparison of each alternative to an “ideal”
Evaluate each one as to how close or far it is from the “ideal”
7
Summary of Compensatory Strategies
Best suited for fairly simple decisions with few dimensions
Well suited when the dimensions are known or knowable, and when an “ideal” choice can be envisioned
8
Non-Compensatory Strategies
9
Rules of Non-Compensatory Strategies
Do not allow trade-offs Four major types
Conjunctive rule Disjunctive rule Lexicographic strategy Elimination by aspects strategy
10
Conjunctive Rule
Eliminate any alternatives that fall outside certain pre-defined boundaries
Example of satisficing rather than optimizing
11
Disjunctive Rule
Each alternative is evaluated in terms of its best attribute, regardless of the rating on other dimensions
12
Lexicographic Strategy
Identify the most important dimension and choose the most desirable alternatives for that dimension
If there is more than one “winner,” go to the next most important dimension and evaluate the remaining alternatives in the same way
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Elimination-by-Aspects Strategy
Probabilistic variation of the lexicographic strategy
Each dimension selected with a probability proportional to its importance
Then alternatives are compared on that highest probability dimension and winners move to the next dimension
14
Choosing Between Equal Alternatives
People pick the most important dimension of the alternatives and then select the highest rated alternative on that dimension
Pragmatic approach
15
Decision-Making Facilitators and Barriers
16
Rationality
Logical thinking Prefrontal cortex Metacognition – ability to reflect on
one’s own mind and thus regulate (to a degree) the emotions
Monitors emotions and decides what to take seriously and what to ignore
17
Overthinking a Problem
Claude Steele Stanford sophomores took the
Graduate Record Exam (GRE) White students performed
significantly better than black students
Called the Achievement gap When students told it was just a
preparatory drill, no difference in scores
18
Placebo Effect
Power of prefrontal cortex to modulate most body signals, like pain
Fake pain-relieving cream provided relief
Electric shocks mitigated Sobe Adrenaline Rush – lower price
seen as producing less effective in problem solving
19
Fooling the Senses
CalTech and Stanford wine tasting experiment
Three levels of wine - $5, $45, $90 With blind testing, respondents could
sort them out fairly accurately When asked to take a short survey
about the wine characteristics, they became confused and selected incorrectly
20
Mental Accounting
Brian Wansink, Cornell Bottomless bowl of soup Whatever people see on their plate,
they eat They keep track by counting plates,
or scoops of M&M’s, not actual food
21
Anchoring Effect
Daniel Kahneman Random number generated by
roulette wheel and shown to respondents
Estimate the number of African countries in the United Nations
Those who saw higher roulette number guessed higher number of African countries, and those who saw lower roulette number guessed lower number of African countries
22
Overconfidence
Plous, Ch. 19 Overconfidence is greatest when
accuracy is near chance levels Overconfidence diminishes as
accuracy increases from 50 to 80 percent, and when it exceeds 80 percent, people become underconfident
Discrepancies between accuracy and confidence are not related to intelligence
23
Calibration
The degree to which confidence matches accuracy
24
Self-test of OverconfidenceEstimate the answers at a 90% confidence level
Low High
1. Martin Luther King’s age at death
2. Length of the Nile River
3. Number of countries that are members of OPEC
4. Number of books in the Old Testament
5. Diameter of the moon in miles
6. Weight of an empty Boeing 747 in pounds
7. Year in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born
8. Gestation period (in days) of an Asian elephant
9. Air distance from London to Tokyo
10. Deepest (known) point in the ocean (in feet)
25
Self-test of OverconfidenceEstimate the answers at a 90% confidence level
Answers
1. Martin Luther King’s age at death 39 years
2. Length of the Nile River 4187 miles
3. Number of countries that are members of OPEC
13 countries
4. Number of books in the Old Testament 39 books
5. Diameter of the moon in miles 2160 miles
6. Weight of an empty Boeing 747 in pounds 390,000 pounds
7. Year in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born
1756
8. Gestation period (in days) of an Asian elephant
645 days
9. Air distance from London to Tokyo 5959 miles
10. Deepest (known) point in the ocean (in feet)
36,198 feet
26
Bias for certainty
Confidence in decisions is comforting That can lead to disastrously wrong
decisions Counter that by paying attention to
the details that don’t fit the overall pattern
George Day’s “small voices”
27
Reducing Overconfidence
Stop to consider reasons why your judgment might be wrong
We all have blind spots – reducing overconfidence is a matter of recognizing that those blind spots may exist and trying to examine alternatives
28
Behavioral Traps
Plous, Ch. 21 Embarking on a promising course of
action that subsequently becomes untenable
Taxonomy of traps Time delay traps Ignorance traps Investment traps Deterioration traps Collective traps
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Time Delay Traps
Momentary gratification versus long term consequences – smoking or extra dessert
Or avoidance of momentary discomfort versus long term consequences – skipping a dentist appointment
Marketing implication – buy now, pay later plans
30
Marshmallow test of Self Control
Walter Mischel, 1970’s Four year olds Eat one marshmallow or wait a few
minutes to get two marshmallows Most kids couldn’t resist for long Kids who can’t resist tend to exhibit
behavioral problems later in life Tends to stabilize after the teen
years
31
Ignorance Traps
Negative consequences not understood by the decision-maker
Common when new life paths are taken and consequences are not forseeable
Example – college students getting MSMR degrees
32
Investment Traps
When prior expenditures lead people to make bad choices
People sometimes ignore the “sunk cost” of investments
33
Deterioration Traps
Costs and benefits change over time, leading to less desirable outcomes
34
Collective Traps
Apply to groups of people Sub-optimization by an individual
leads to adverse consequences for the group
35
Prisoner’s DilemmaPrisoner A
Prisoner B
Confesses
Confesses
Doesn’t confess
Doesn’t confess
5 years
5 years
10 years
0 years
1 years
1 years
0 years
10 years
Above diagonal - Prisoner’s A sentence; below diagonal – Prisoner B’s sentence
36
Prisoner’s Dilemma
Dilemma is that if both don’t confess, they get a much shorter (1 year) sentence, but are also exposed to a much longer (10 year) possibility
Both are better off confessing and taking a 5 year sentence
What would you do?
37
Dollar Auction Game
A dollar is auctioned to two bidders Four rules:
1. No communication is allowed among bidders while the auction is taking place
2. Bids can be made only in multiples of 5 cents, beginning with a nickel
3. Bids must not exceed $504. The two highest bidders both have to pay
what they bid, even though the dollar goes only to the highest bidder
38
Dollar Auction Game Outcomes
When the two highest bids total $1.00, the auctioneer is assured of a profit
Still attractive from the bidder’s perspective
Second inflection point is when the first bidder reaches $1
Second bidder can’t quit, as they stand to lose 95 cents if they don’t go to $1.05
Bidding often reaches a few dollars
39
Ways to Avoid Entrapment
Explicitly consider withdrawal costs before beginning
Use different decision-makers for the initial and subsequent decisions – less personal involvement
40
Community and Society
41
Morality and the Cortex
Moral decisions tend to be regulated by emotions
Reason is invented as logical support for the emotional decision
Moral decisions require taking other people into account, not just oneself
42
Experiment in Morality
Scenario 1: You are the driver of a runaway trolley. The brakes have failed. If you do nothing, five maintenance workers will die. If you swerve, one maintenance worker will die.
Scenario 2: You are standing on a footbridge over a trolley track. Unless the trolley can be stopped, five maintenance workers will die. Standing next to you is a large man, who if you push over the bridge, will fall on the track and stop the trolley, but the large man will die.
43
Results
In scenario 1, when you are the driver, 95% of respondents agree it is better to swerve and save five men with one other man dying. This is a personal moral situation.
In scenario 2, almost nobody is willing to push the man over the edge, resulting in five people dying. This is an impersonal moral decision, and activates different parts of the brain.
44
Morality and brain regions For personal moral decisions, a rational
moral decision process activates to generate an optimal decision – one death is better than five other deaths
For impersonal moral decisions, the area responsible for thinking about other people (superior temporal suculus, posterior cingulate, and medial frontal cortex) activate and produce confusion and a sub-optimal decision – one death is capital murder
45
Sympathy and Fairness
The ultimatum game Two respondents One gets $10 and decides how to divide it The other decides to accept the offer or reject, in
which case both get nothing Economists thought most people would offer a
nominal amount like $1 and keep the rest The logical response is to accept any offer Most people rejected low offers as “unfair” and
walked away with nothing Proposers anticipated this response, and actually
made “fair” offers in the area of $5
46
Altruism
The desire to help others The brain rewards altruism with a
pleasurable feeling Autism – people who can’t engage in
or understand social interactions with others
Results in inability to sympathize with others
Mirror neurons aren’t developed
47
Resulting Decisions
Decisions feel “unanimous” to us However, most decisions are the
result of weighing multiple conflicting factors
Stimulate the NAcc and pacify the insula Prime with highly coveted items Use promotional stickers to make the
deal seem like a good deal Credit cards are less like “real money,”
therefore result in more purchasing
48
Silencing cognitive dissonance
Brock and Balloun, late 1960’s Two groups – regular churchgoers,
committed atheists Played tape recorded message
attacking Christianity, with annoying static added
Listeners able to press button and remove static
Atheists removed the static, churchgoers did not - they each heard what they wanted
49
Parable of Cognitive Dissonance
Jewish tailor story (Plous p. 22) The gang members tried to upset
the tailor; when he paid them, he said they were making him happy; when he reduced the payment, they couldn’t justify their behavior
People are motivated to reduce psychological inconsistencies
50
Limitations of the Cortex
Cortex can only handle about seven data elements at once
Car buying involves dozens of features, options, etc.
Dijksterhuis categorized products with a complexity score Simple things like simple kitchen tools
(oven mitts) and home accessories (light bulbs) are easy
Complex things like furniture is very hard
51
Results
With complex decisions, the longer people ponder them, the less satisfied they are with their decisions
The optimal strategy – use your rational mind to gather needed information, then don’t think about it – let your subconscious arrive at a good decision
52
Impact of Society on Decisions
53
Social Facilitation
Allport, 1954 and Zajonc, 1965 When observers are present, a
person performs simple, well-rehearsed tasks better
For complex or unmastered skills, the performance is worse
54
Social Loafing
Moede (1927) People do not work as hard in groups
as they work alone When alone, individuals bear sole
responsibility for the outcome When in a group, responsibility is
shared (diffused) The larger the group, the more likely
that social loafing will occur
55
People as Politicians
Social comparison theory – people evaluate their ability levels and appropriateness of their opinions by comparison with others
People tend to compare themselves with those who are most similar to them
This can lead to conformity Asch (1951) bar chart test
56
Vocal Minority
Consistent vocal minority can have an impact on a larger group of people
This can happen even when minority group is not particularly powerful or prestigious
57
Groupthink
Social pressures in a group to conform to the perceived consensus opinion of the group
Janis (1982) – eight common symptoms1. Illusion of invulnerability leading to overoptimism2. Collective efforts to rationalize3. Unquestioned belief in group’s morality4. Stereotyped views of adversaries5. Pressure directed at any new member who dissents6. Shared illusion of unanimity7. Self-censorship of deviations from group consensus8. Self-appointed “mind-guards” who protect the group
from external, divergent information
58
Group Polarization
Group discussion leads to advocating greater risk taking than individuals would advocate
However, when the initial inclination of the group is toward caution, group discussion can lead to advocating greater caution than individuals would advocate
Called “choice shift”
59
Group Judgments
Slightly better than individual judgments
Three person groups However, best individual in a group
tends to outperform the overall group
60
Types of Group Judgment Five types of group decision techniques
Consensus – face-to-face discussion leads to agreement
Dialectic – group members required to discuss factors that might bias their decisions
Dictator – one member (hopefully best) makes judgments for the group
Delphi – iteration through a series of rounds Collective – no interaction among group
members; decision is simple average
61
What Type Do You Think Works Best?
Class discussion
62
What Type Do You Think Works Best?
Aggregation is the worst type
Dictator works best IFF best individual is chosen to be the dictator
However, dictator tends to modify decisions based on group consensus
63
Decision Strategy Conclusions
64
Decision Guidelines
Simple problems require reason Novel problems require reason Embrace uncertainty You know more than you know Think about thinking
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