INSEAD Library

Includes bibliographical references and index

Digitized

Individual Choice Behaviour Individual Choice Behaviour A. INTRODUCTION 1 Probabilistic vs. Algebraic Theories 2 2 Multiple Alternative Choices 3 3 Well-Defined Sets of Alternatives 3 B. C. PROBABILITY AXIOMS CHOICE AXIOM 1 Statement of Axiom 5 2 Discussion 6 3 Previous Work 10 4 D i c t Empirical Testing of Axiom 1 12 D. TWO CONSEQUENCES 1 Statement 16 2 Discussion 17 3 Coombs' Data 19 E. RATIO SCALE 1 Background 20 2 Existence Theorem 23 ix x Contents 3 Extension of v-Scale 24 4 Previous Work 27 F. INDEPENDENCE-OF-UNIT CONDITION 1 2 3 4 G. Statement of Condition 28 Behavioral Continuity 29 Response Bias 30 Estimation of Parameters 32 ALGEBRAIC APPROXIMATIONS 1 Just Noticeable Dierences 34 2 The Trace 36 1 The Fechnerian Assumption 38 2 Derivation of Fechner's Assumption 39 3 Uniqueness of the Logistic Curve 41 B. THE POWER LAW 1 2 3 4 C. Derivation of the Law 42 Estimation of Exponent 44 An Alternative Approach 44 Two Other Scales 45 Introduction 47 Form of u(x, l ) 49 Generalizations 51 A Numerical Example 52 The Power Law Exponent 53 INTERACTION OF CONTINUA 1 2 3 4 5 D. DISCRIMINAL PROCESSES 54 1 Introduction 54 2 Relation of Axiom 1 to Thurstone's Case V 55 3 A Generalization to Three or More Alternatives 56 E. SIGNAL DETECTABILITY THEORY 58 1 2 3 4 5 Introduction 58 Yes-No Experiments 59 Forced-Choice Experiments 62 Expected-Value Model 63 Recognition Experiments and Maximum Amounts of Information Transmitted 64 Contents F. RANK ORDERINGS xi 68 1 Direction of Ranking 69 2 Inferring Pairwise Probabilitiea 70 A. B, INTRODUCTION DECOMPOSABLE PREFERENCE STRUCTURES 1 Definitions 78 2 The Principal Result 79 3 Discussion 82 C. ADDITIONAL AXIOMS 1 Existence of Three Event Classes 83 2 Restrictions on P(a, 6) 85 D. A PROPOSED EXPERIMENT 1 A Prediction 86 2 Experimental Implication 87 3 A Utility Decomposition 88 A. B. C. D. INTRODUCTION RESPONSE STRENGTH OPERATORS ALPHA MODEL BETA MODEL 1 Axiomatic Derivation 99 2 Simple Beta Model 101 3 Testing the Two-Alternative Beta Model 102 E. GAMMA MODEL APPLICATION OF THE THREE MODELS TO A SPECIAL CASE 105 106 F. 1 Introduction 106 Partial Reinforcement 107 3 Alpha Model 108 4 Beta Model 109 5 Gamma Model 110 6 Conclusions 110 2 1 Introduction 111 2 Relations Among Asymptotic Expectations 114 3 Existence and Values of lim E(v,) and lim E(l/vn) 117 n+ 4 A Special Case 120 - n-+ - A. SUMMARY B. CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX OPEN 4. PROBLEMS A. Conceptual and Empirical 142 B. Mathematical 144