An Empirical Assessment of the Form of Utility Functions

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 461 - 476
• Main Author: Kirby, Kris N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01.03.2011
• Subjects: Adults; Choice Behavior - physiology; Cost Effectiveness; Decision Making; Decision Making - physiology; Economics; Experimental Psychology; Female; Games, Experimental; Humans; Linear Models; Male; Models, Psychological; Observation; Outcomes of Education; Prediction; Predictive Value of Tests; Students; Theories; Undergraduate Students; Universities

Utility functions, which relate subjective value to physical attributes of experience, are fundamental to most decision theories. Seven experiments were conducted to test predictions of the most widely assumed mathematical forms of utility (power, log, and negative exponential), and a function propo...