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2006
This paper challenges the common assumption that economic agents know their tastes. After reviewing previous research showing that valuation of ordinary products and experiences can be manipulated by non-normative cues, we present three studies showing that in some cases people do not have a pre-existing sense of whether an experience is good or bad—even when they have experienced a sample of it.
2005 •
ABSTRACT A fundamental assumption in economic analysis is that economic agents know their tastes—their likes and dislikes—before choosing between options. This assumption supports many of the normative claims of economic theory, notably the claim that free market exchanges necessarily increase individual and social welfare.
In six experiments we show that initial valuations of familiar products and simple hedonic experiences are strongly inuenced by arbitrary "anchors" (some-times derived from a person's social security number). Because subsequent valuations are also coherent with respect to salient differences in perceived quality or quantity of these products and experiences, the entire pattern of valuations can easily create an illusion of order, as if it is being generated by stable underlying preferences. The experiments show that this combination of coherent arbitrariness (1) cannot be interpreted as a rational response to information, (2) does not decrease as a result of experience with a good, (3) is not necessarily reduced by market forces, and (4) is not unique to cash prices. The results imply that demand curves estimated from market data need not reveal true consumer preferences, in any normatively signicant sense of the term.
American Economic Journal Microeconomics
On the Robustness of Anchoring Effects in WTP and WTA Experiments2012 •
All sentient creatures presumably favor pleasure over pain. However, only humans, with their unique capacity for planning and self-reflection, have the capacity to deliberately attempt to conduct their lives so as to maximize their hedonic experience. The fact that we are able to consider the potential short and long-term hedonic benefits of our actions, does not mean of course that it is necessarily advisable to attempt to deliberately maximize happiness.
Journal of Property Research
Consumer house price judgements: new evidence of anchoring and arbitrary coherence2012 •
2007 •
In two studies we examined the willingness to support action to remedy a public problem. In Study 1 people were asked whether they would financially contribute to solution of a public problem. In Study 2, people were asked whether they would sign a petition to support a public action. The aim was to test whether the willingness to support solution
2009 •
In Behavioral Economics, "arbitrary coherence" is when an arbitrary, randomly chosen number, influences the amount purchasers are willing to pay for a product. Arbitrary coherence is similar to anchoring which marketers sometimes use to help set optimal prices. This paper examines how the arbitrary coherence effect influences individual decision making.
2010 •
2011 •
2015 •
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
When does a referent public problem affect financial and political support for public action?2008 •
Journal of Economic Psychology
Explaining differences in real and hypothetical experimental auctions and choice experiments with personality2013 •
SSRN Electronic Journal
Converting Sentiments to Dollars: Scaling and Incommensurability Problems in the Evaluation of Child Support Payments2000 •
Using Experimental …
Anchoring and yea-saying with private goods: an experiment.2006 •
2008 •
2007 •
2009 •
Journal of Economic Psychology
Preference reversals and disparities between willingness to pay and willingness to accept in repeated markets2010 •
2007 •
Preventive Medicine
Using behavioral economics to promote physical activity2009 •
Soi Working Papers
When Are Preferences Consistent? The Effects of Task Familiarity and Contextual Cues on Revealed and Stated Preferences2010 •
2012 •
R. Dolan & T. Sharot (Eds.) (2011). Neuroscience of Preference and Choice
Preference change through choice2011 •
SSRN Electronic Journal
Intuitive Lawmaking II: The Relationship between Citizens' Endorsement of Principles and Their Resolution of Cases2000 •
2008 •
Environmental & Resource Economics, forthcoming
Can Defaults Save the Climate? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Carbon Offsetting ProgramsLaw and Human Behavior
Abstract principles and concrete cases in intuitive lawmaking2012 •