Journal Articles by Adrian R Camilleri
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2019
The authors investigated the effectiveness of aggregating over potential noncontingent collective... more The authors investigated the effectiveness of aggregating over potential noncontingent collective action (“If X people all do Y action, then Z outcomes will be achieved”) to increase prosocial behavior. They carried out 6 experiments encouraging 4 different prosocial activities and found that aggregating potential benefits over 1,000 people produced more prosocial intentions and actions than aggregating over 1 person did. The authors further showed that aggregating potential benefits over 1,000 people produced more prosocial intentions than aggregating benefits over 1,000 days did. This collective aggregation effect was due to the presentation of larger aggregated benefits (Experiments 1–6), attenuation of psychological discounting (Experiment 4), and increased perceptions of outcome efficacy (Experiments 5–6). The effect was not due to social norms (Experiment 3) or a simple anchoring process (Experiments 4–5). Often individual contributions to societal ills seem like mere “drops in a bucket”; collective aggregation helps by making individual actions seem bucket-sized, immediate, important, and effective.
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2019
We report results from a framed field experiment with a realistic retirement savings simulation t... more We report results from a framed field experiment with a realistic retirement savings simulation to examine two factors in socially responsible investment (SRI) decisions: characteristics of investors and the investment choice architecture. We find that default options, age and values are significant explanators while infographics, gender, education and income are not. Further, repeated decisions affect SRI negatively through donor fatigue and positively through windfall gains. Our results suggest SRI is significantly limited by the non-ethical default options pension providers commonly set. Conversely there is scope for nudging pension savers towards socially responsible investments using defaults.
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 2019
The authors tested two interventions to improve retirement savings investment decisions. In an in... more The authors tested two interventions to improve retirement savings investment decisions. In an incentive‐compatible experiment, 459 participants engaged in a task simulating their working life. Periodically during the simulation, participants chose between different investment options. The authors examined the effectiveness of a “nudge” by manipulating the default option and the effectiveness of a “signpost” by manipulating the display of a pictograph summarizing the expected return of each option. Participants often followed the default option, particularly when it was “smart” (i.e., became more conservative as retirement approached) and when presented together with dynamic pictographs (i.e., updated each year assuming the investment was held until retirement). Those most likely to make optimal choices (i.e., consistent with the life cycle model) were presented with a smart default or dynamic pictographs. These findings reveal how different choice architecture interventions can be used to positively influence behavior. Retirement funds and regulators can support retirement savings decisions by the provision of smart defaults and better risk information in the form of pictographs.
Nature Climate Change, 2019
Food production is a major cause of energy use and GHG emissions, and therefore diet change is an... more Food production is a major cause of energy use and GHG emissions, and therefore diet change is an important behavioural strategy for reducing associated environmental impacts. However, a severe obstacle to diet change may be consumers’ underestimation of the environmental impacts of different types of food. Here we show that energy consumption and GHG emission estimates are significantly underestimated for foods, suggesting a possible blind spot suitable for intervention. In a second study, we find that providing consumers with information regarding the GHG emissions associated with the life cycle of food, presented in terms of a familiar reference unit (light-bulb minutes), shifts their actual purchase choices away from higher-emission options. Thus, although consumers’ poor understanding of the food system is a barrier to reducing energy use and GHG emissions, it also represents a promising area for simple interventions such as a well-designed carbon label.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2019
The over-precision bias refers to the tendency for individuals to believe that their predictions ... more The over-precision bias refers to the tendency for individuals to believe that their predictions are much more accurate than they really are. We investigated whether this type of overconfidence is moderated by how task-relevant information is obtained. We contrast cases in which individuals were presented with information about two options with equal average performance – one with low variance the other with high variance – in experience format (i.e., observed individual performance outcomes sequentially) or description format (i.e., presented with a summary of the outcome distribution). Across three experiments, we found that those learning from description tended to be over-precise whereas those learning from experience were under-precise. These differences were driven by a relatively better calibrated representation of the underlying outcome distribution by those presented with experience-based information. We argue that those presented with experience-based information have better learning due to more opportunities for prediction-error.
Management Science, 2018
Every attribute can be expressed in multiple ways. For example, car fuel economy can be expressed... more Every attribute can be expressed in multiple ways. For example, car fuel economy can be expressed as fuel efficiency (“miles per gallon”), fuel cost in dollars, or tons of greenhouse gases emitted. Each expression, or “translation,” highlights a different aspect of the same attribute. We describe a new mechanism whereby translated attributes can serve as decision “signposts” because they (1) activate otherwise dormant objectives, such as proenvironmental values and goals, and (2) direct the person toward the option that best achieves the activated objective. Across three experiments, we provide evidence for the occurrence of such signpost effects as well as the underlying psychological mechanism. We demonstrate that expressing an attribute such as fuel economy in terms of multiple translations can increase preference for the option that is better aligned with objectives congruent with this attribute (e.g., the more fuel-efficient car for those with proenvironmental attitudes), even when the new information is derivable from other known attributes. We discuss how using translated attributes appropriately can help align a person’s choices with their personal objectives.
Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2017
Purpose: The purpose of this research was to create a brief scale to measure perceived social ben... more Purpose: The purpose of this research was to create a brief scale to measure perceived social benefit that would be appropriate for use in future research aiming to explore the role of this variable in determining word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviour. There is evidence that perceived social risk negatively impacts the willingness to share, but the role of perceived social benefit has not yet been explored. Understanding how perceived social risk and benefit interact to determine WOM will inform social marketing campaign design.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper outlines two studies: Study 1 was concerned with the development of the Perceived Social Benefit of Sharing Scale (PSBSS), including the construction of preliminary items and the reliability and concurrent validity of the final scale. Study 2 involved an investigation of the concurrent validity of the PSBSS in relation to the likelihood to share.
Findings: Study 1 demonstrated that the perceived social benefit associated with WOM was related to social approval, impression management, and social bonding. The results of Study 2 established that scores on the PSBSS predicted self-reported likelihood to engage in both face-to-face WOM and electronic WOM.
Originality/Value: The PSBSS can be used to examine the role of perceived social benefit, including how the interaction between perceived social risk and benefit determines where, when, and with whom people will share WOM.
Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2017
Review score information can be presented in different formats. In three online experiments, we e... more Review score information can be presented in different formats. In three online experiments, we examined consumers' behavior in the context of review scores presented in a disaggregated format (individual review scores observed sequentially and individually), an aggregated format (review scores summarized into a frequency distribution chart), or both together. Participants tended to attribute outlier review scores to reviewer rather than product reasons. This tendency was more prevalent when reviews were presented in disaggregated format. Moreover, reviews attributed to reviewer reasons tended to be perceived with low credibility. When presented with a choice between two products with equal average review scores but different variances, participants chose as if outlier review scores were discounted when scores were presented in the disaggregated format. This tendency emerged even when disaggregated and aggregated formats were presented together. The number of review scores moderated the effect of format on choice. We argue that disaggregated information allows consumers to better track the number of outliers and, when the number of outliers is small, prompts them to attribute these outliers to reviewer reasons, and subsequently discount them.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 2014
Interest is increasing in using behavioral decision insights to design better product labels. A s... more Interest is increasing in using behavioral decision insights to design better product labels. A specific policy target is the fuel economy label, which policy makers can use to encourage reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from transport-related fossil-fuel combustion. In two online experiments, the authors examine whether vehicle preferences can be shifted toward more fuel-efficient vehicles by manipulating the metric (consumption of gas vs. cost of gas) and scale (100 miles vs. 15,000 miles vs. 100,000 miles) on which fuel economy information is expressed. They find that preference for fuel-efficient vehicles is highest when fuel economy is expressed in terms of the cost of gas over 100,000 miles, regardless of whether the vehicle pays for its higher price in gas savings. The authors discuss the underlying psychological mechanisms for this finding, including compatibility, anchoring, and familiarity effects, and conclude that policy makers should initiate programs that communicate fuel-efficiency information in terms of costs over an expanded, lifetime scale.
Cognition, 2013
The demonstration that preferences differ when gambles are to be played once or multiple times is... more The demonstration that preferences differ when gambles are to be played once or multiple times is central to a long standing debate about the rationality of risky choice. We tested a novel prediction that choices made under single-and multipleplay conditions would be affected not only by imagined future prospects but also by the acquisition method of choice-relevant information (description vs. experience).
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Jan 1, 2011
Two paradigms are commonly used to examine risky choice based on experiential sampling. The feedb... more Two paradigms are commonly used to examine risky choice based on experiential sampling. The feedback paradigm involves a large number of repeated, consequential choices with feedback about the chosen (partial feedback) or chosen and foregone (full feedback) payoffs. The sampling paradigm invites cost-free samples before a single consequential choice. Despite procedural differences, choices in both experience-based paradigms suggest underweighting of rare events relative to their objective probability. This contrasts with overweighting when choice options are described, thereby leading to a ‘gap’ between experience and description-based choice. Behavioural data and model-based analysis from an experiment comparing choices from description, sampling, and partial- and full-feedback paradigms replicated the ‘gap’, but also indicated significant differences between feedback and sampling paradigms. Our results suggest that mere sequential experience of outcomes is insufficient to produce reliable underweighting. We discuss when and why underweighting occurs, and implicate repeated, consequential choice as the critical factor.
Acta Psychologica, Jan 1, 2011
Does the manner in which people acquire information affect their choices? Recent research has con... more Does the manner in which people acquire information affect their choices? Recent research has contrasted choices based on summary descriptions (e.g. a 100% chance of $3 vs. an 80% chance of $4) with those based on the ‘experience’ of drawing samples from environments that do (or should) match those provided by descriptions. Intriguingly, decision-makers' preferences differ markedly across the two formats: the so-called description–experience “gap” — but debate over the cause of this gap continues. We employed novel techniques to ensure strict control over both external and internal biases in the samples of information that people used to make decisions from experience. In line with some other recent research, we found a much diminished gap in both experiments suggesting that the divergence in choices based on description and sequentially acquired (non-consequential) samples is largely the result of non-equivalent information at the point of choice. The implications for models of risky choice are discussed.
Judgment & Decision Making, 2009
Recently it has been observed that different choices can be made about structurally identical ris... more Recently it has been observed that different choices can be made about structurally identical risky decisions depending on whether information about outcomes and their probabilities is learned by description or from experience. Current evidence is equivocal with respect to whether this choice “gap” is entirely an artefact of biased samples. The current experiment investigates whether a representational bias exists at the point of encoding by examining choice in light of decision makers’ mental representations of the alternatives, measured with both verbal and nonverbal judgment probes. We found that, when estimates were gauged by the nonverbal probe, participants presented with information in description format (as opposed to experience) had a greater tendency to overestimate rare events and underestimate common events. The choice gap, however, remained even when accounting for this judgment distortion and the effects of sampling bias. Indeed, participants’ estimation of the outcome distribution did not mediate their subsequent choice. It appears that experience-based choices may derive from a process that does not explicitly use probability information.
Chapters by Adrian R Camilleri
Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015
“Choice architecture” is a metaphor capturing the idea that all choices occur within a structure ... more “Choice architecture” is a metaphor capturing the idea that all choices occur within a structure of contextual and task features. These features in turn help to “construct” a person’s choice. In this chapter we summarize the academic literature on three types of choice architecture tools – defaults, information restructuring, and information feedback – and document some real-world examples where these tools have been applied as successful “nudges”. We end the chapter with a discussion of some key challenges and opportunities associated with this new field – including the need for customized choice architecture and the political acceptability of the use of choice architecture – and highlight some avenues for future research.
Progress in Brain Research: Decision Making: Neural and Behavioural Approaches, 2013
The description–experience “gap” refers to the observation that choices are influenced by whether... more The description–experience “gap” refers to the observation that choices are influenced by whether information about potential alternatives is learnt from a summary description or from the experience of sequentially sampling individual outcomes. In this chapter, we traverse the cognitive steps required to make a decision—information acquisition, storage, representation, and then choice—and at each step briefly review the evidence for sources of discrepancy between these two formats of choice. We conclude that description- and experience-based choice formats lie along a continuum of uncertainty and share important core features, including the explicit representation of probability, the combining of this probability information with outcome information, and utility maximization. The implication of this conclusion is that the differences between description- and experience-based choices emerge from how uncertainty information is acquired and stored rather than how it is represented or used
Conference Articles by Adrian R Camilleri
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2011
Choice preferences can shift depending on whether outcome and probability information about the o... more Choice preferences can shift depending on whether outcome and probability information about the options are provided in a description or learned from the experience of sampling. We explored whether this description-experience “gap” could be explained as a difference in probabilistic mindset, that is, the explicit consideration of probability information in the former but not the latter. We replicated the gap but found little evidence to support our main hypothesis.
Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009
Numerous studies using between-subject designs have found that different decisions can be made ab... more Numerous studies using between-subject designs have found that different decisions can be made about identical binary choice problems depending on whether the options are described or experienced. Using a within-subjects design we examined this Description-Experience 'gap'at the level of the individual.
Theses by Adrian R Camilleri
Doctoral dissertation, 2011
Most decisions occur in the context of uncertainty. Usually we do not possess explicit knowledge ... more Most decisions occur in the context of uncertainty. Usually we do not possess explicit knowledge of all the outcomes and their associated probabilities; instead, we must estimate this outcome distribution information from our own personal experience with similar past situations. The primary goal motivating the work contained within was to reveal the psychological mechanisms underlying such experience-based choices. The phenomenon inspiring this goal was the observation that preferences tend to reverse depending on whether information about alternative outcome distributions is learnt from a summary description or from the experience of sequentially sampling outcomes. In the first experimental chapter, it is argued that much of this description-experience “gap” can be attributed to non-representative samples serving as the basis of experience-based choice. Such non-representative samples can occur externally – because of frugal sampling efforts – and internally – because of limited cognitive resources. Both of these sources of bias have the effect of under-representing rare events. However, as discussed in the second experimental chapter, these explanations are sufficient only when costless sampling is followed by a single choice. In contrast, the gap remains in situations where each of many samples is a repeated, consequential choice. It is argued that the sequential nature of these repeated choices induces a short horizon and heavy reliance on recent outcomes. The final experimental chapter demonstrates that decision-makers appear to integrate their experience in such a way as to overestimate rare events and under estimate common events. It is argued that this judgment error reflects the processes of a noisy, instance-based memory system. The system is mechanised in a new and successful model of experience-based choice: the exemplar-confusion model. It is concluded that description- and experience-based choice formats lie along a continuum of uncertainty and share important core features, including the explicit representation of probability, the combining of this information with outcome information, and utility maximization. The implication of this conclusion is that the differences between description- and experience-based choices emerge from how uncertainty information is acquired, rather than how it is represented or used.
Honours thesis, 2007
Associative learning in humans is often assessed with a causal learning task, such as the allergi... more Associative learning in humans is often assessed with a causal learning task, such as the allergist task. In the present study, three experiments used an allergist task in which a number of food cues were paired with three possible allergic reaction outcomes. At test, participants were asked to recall the outcome paired with each cue, and to judge the extent to which the cue caused that outcome.
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Journal Articles by Adrian R Camilleri
Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper outlines two studies: Study 1 was concerned with the development of the Perceived Social Benefit of Sharing Scale (PSBSS), including the construction of preliminary items and the reliability and concurrent validity of the final scale. Study 2 involved an investigation of the concurrent validity of the PSBSS in relation to the likelihood to share.
Findings: Study 1 demonstrated that the perceived social benefit associated with WOM was related to social approval, impression management, and social bonding. The results of Study 2 established that scores on the PSBSS predicted self-reported likelihood to engage in both face-to-face WOM and electronic WOM.
Originality/Value: The PSBSS can be used to examine the role of perceived social benefit, including how the interaction between perceived social risk and benefit determines where, when, and with whom people will share WOM.
Chapters by Adrian R Camilleri
Conference Articles by Adrian R Camilleri
Theses by Adrian R Camilleri
Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper outlines two studies: Study 1 was concerned with the development of the Perceived Social Benefit of Sharing Scale (PSBSS), including the construction of preliminary items and the reliability and concurrent validity of the final scale. Study 2 involved an investigation of the concurrent validity of the PSBSS in relation to the likelihood to share.
Findings: Study 1 demonstrated that the perceived social benefit associated with WOM was related to social approval, impression management, and social bonding. The results of Study 2 established that scores on the PSBSS predicted self-reported likelihood to engage in both face-to-face WOM and electronic WOM.
Originality/Value: The PSBSS can be used to examine the role of perceived social benefit, including how the interaction between perceived social risk and benefit determines where, when, and with whom people will share WOM.