A Cognitive Theory of Reasoning and Choice
We offer a theory of decisions in which attention to the features of choice options is determined by the DM’s categorization of the current choice problem in a set of problems she solved in the past. Categorization depends on goal-relevant as well as contextual problem-level features. The model yields systematic heterogeneity in attention and choice in a given problem based on dierent past experiences, rigidity of choices when categorization does not change despite new data, and discontinuous shifts when changes in bottom-up salient features cause re-categorization. The model unies major puzzles and framing effects in riskless, statistical, and lottery choice based on heterogenous and unstable mental representations.
Date:
27 January 2025, 11:30
Venue:
Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details:
Skills Lab
Speaker:
Pedro Bordalo (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford)
Organising department:
Department of Economics
Part of:
Political Economy Seminar
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Edward Clark
