Debiasing context effects in strategic decisions: Playing against a consistent opponent can correct perceptual but not reinforcement biases
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2008, Vol 3, Issue 6
Abstract
Vlaev and Chater (2006) demonstrated that the cooperativeness of previously seen prisoner’s dilemma games biases choices and predictions in the current game. These effects were: a) assimilation to the mean cooperativeness of the played games caused by action reinforcement, and b) perceptual contrast with the preceding games depending on the range and the rank order of their cooperativeness. We demonstrate that, when playing against choice strategies that are not biased by such factors, perceptual biases disappear and only assimilation bias caused by reinforcement persists. This suggests that reinforcement learning is a powerful source of inconsistency in strategic interaction, which may not be eliminated even if the other players are unbiased and the markets are efficient.
Authors and Affiliations
Ivo Vlaev, and Nick Chater
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP677647
- DOI -
- Views 166
- Downloads 0
Delaying information search
In three studies, we examined factors that may temporarily attenuate information search. People are generally curious and dislike uncertainty, which typically encourages them to look for relevant information. Despite the...
Does moving from war zone change emotions and risk perceptions? A field study of Israeli students
The current field study uses data collected after the 2009 war between Israel and the Hamas militias in the Gaza Strip ended. The study compares recalled emotions and perceived risks among two groups of students, all of...
Reflective liberals and intuitive conservatives: A look at the Cognitive Reflection Test and ideology
Prior research finds that liberals and conservatives process information differently. Predispositions toward intuitive versus reflective thinking may help explain this individual level variation. There have been few dire...
On the relative importance of the hot stove effect and the tendency to rely on small samples
Experiments have suggested that decisions from experience differ from decisions from description. In experience-based decisions, the decision makers often fail to maximise their payoffs. Previous authors have ascribed th...
Lay understanding of probability distributions
How accurate are laypeople’s intuitions about probability distributions of events? The economic and psychological literatures provide opposing answers. A classical economic view assumes that ordinary decision makers cons...