TY - JOUR
T1 - Attribute attention and option attention in risky choice
AU - Zilker, Veronika
AU - Pachur, Thorsten
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Probability weighting is one of the most powerful theoretical constructs in descriptive models of risky choice and constitutes a central component of cumulative prospect theory (CPT). Probability weighting has been shown to be related to two facets of attention allocation: one analysis showed that differences in the shape of CPT's probability-weighting function are linked to differences in how attention is allocated across attributes (i.e., probabilities vs. outcomes); another analysis (that used a different measure of attention) showed a link between probability weighting and differences in how attention is allocated across options. However, the relationship between these two links is unclear. We investigate to what extent attribute attention and option attention independently contribute to probability weighting. Reanalyzing data from a process-tracing study, we first demonstrate links between probability weighting and both attribute attention and option attention within the same data set and the same measure of attention. We then find that attribute attention and option attention are at best weakly related and have independent and distinct effects on probability weighting. Moreover, deviations from linear weighting mainly emerged when attribute attention or option attention were imbalanced. Our analyses enrich the understanding of the cognitive underpinnings of preferences and illustrate that similar probability-weighting patterns can be associated with very different attentional policies. This complicates an unambiguous psychological interpretation of psycho-economic functions. Our findings indicate that cognitive process models of decision making should aim to concurrently account for the effects of different facets of attention allocation on preference. In addition, we argue that the origins of biases in attribute attention and option attention need to be better understood.
AB - Probability weighting is one of the most powerful theoretical constructs in descriptive models of risky choice and constitutes a central component of cumulative prospect theory (CPT). Probability weighting has been shown to be related to two facets of attention allocation: one analysis showed that differences in the shape of CPT's probability-weighting function are linked to differences in how attention is allocated across attributes (i.e., probabilities vs. outcomes); another analysis (that used a different measure of attention) showed a link between probability weighting and differences in how attention is allocated across options. However, the relationship between these two links is unclear. We investigate to what extent attribute attention and option attention independently contribute to probability weighting. Reanalyzing data from a process-tracing study, we first demonstrate links between probability weighting and both attribute attention and option attention within the same data set and the same measure of attention. We then find that attribute attention and option attention are at best weakly related and have independent and distinct effects on probability weighting. Moreover, deviations from linear weighting mainly emerged when attribute attention or option attention were imbalanced. Our analyses enrich the understanding of the cognitive underpinnings of preferences and illustrate that similar probability-weighting patterns can be associated with very different attentional policies. This complicates an unambiguous psychological interpretation of psycho-economic functions. Our findings indicate that cognitive process models of decision making should aim to concurrently account for the effects of different facets of attention allocation on preference. In addition, we argue that the origins of biases in attribute attention and option attention need to be better understood.
KW - Attention
KW - Attentional bias
KW - Cumulative prospect theory
KW - Probability weighting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152129570&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105441
DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105441
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85152129570
SN - 0010-0277
VL - 236
JO - Cognition
JF - Cognition
M1 - 105441
ER -