When risky decisions are not surprising: An application of prospect theory to the Israeli war decision in 2006

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 484-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Niv-Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Military Operation ◽  
Israeli Government ◽  
Risky Decisions

On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah operatives crossed into Israel and attacked a military patrol, killing three soldiers and kidnapping two more. In retaliation to this incident Israel launched a military operation that resulted in 34 days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. The Israeli retaliation has been deemed to be severe and surprising. Furthermore, a public investigation commission established by the Israeli government implicated key decision-makers, and especially Prime Minister Olmert, as guilty of hasty and irresponsible decision-making. This article views this case through the lens of prospect theory, showing how the decision was made at the framing stage, and suggesting that this decision was not hasty but, rather, was consistent with the logic of loss-aversion.

Decision-making of investment in navigation safety improving schemes with application of cumulative prospect theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 232 (6) ◽  
pp. 710-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Tongle Yin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Cumulative Prospect Theory ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
Risk Appetite ◽  
Safety Investment ◽  
Navigation Safety

Navigation safety improving investment aims at mitigating risk and improving safety of shipping system, while decision-makers’ attitudes toward the uncertainty of shipping safety possess a characteristic of “bounded rationality.” To study the tendency of shipping safety investment decision-making with different risk perception and appetite, a decision-making method based on cumulative prospect theory is proposed in this article. First, we extract the decision attributes through analyzing the factors affecting shipping safety investment. Then, according to cumulative prospect theory, the value function and the probability weighting function for calculating cumulative prospect values of shipping investment attributes are given. Under the risk-based multi-attribute group decision-making framework, linear programming model and projection method are introduced to aggregate the weights of attributes and decision-makers, respectively. Furthermore, through a case study, the proposed methodology is utilized in Three Gorges Dam area, and the desirable safety investment scheme is determined from a set of candidate alternatives. The case study shows not only validity and feasibility of the decision-making approach but also the mechanism of shipping safety investment decision-making with consideration of the behavior characteristics of decision-makers such as reference dependence, risk appetite distortion, and loss aversion.

Prospect Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Taliaferro
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Endowment Effect ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Point Selection

Prospect theory is one of the most influential behavioral theories in the international relations (IR) field, particularly among scholars of security studies, political psychology, and foreign policy analysis. Developed by Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, prospect theory provides key insights into decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty. For example, most individuals are risk averse to secure gains, but risk acceptant to avoid losses (loss aversion). In addition, most people value items they already posses more than they value items they want to acquire (endowment effect), and tend to be risk averse if they perceive themselves to be facing gains relative to their reference point (risk propensity). Prospect theory has generated an enormous volume of scholarship in IR, which can be divided into two “generations”. The first generation (1990–1999) sought to establish prospect theory’s plausibility in the “real world” by testing hypotheses derived from it against subjective expected-utility theory or rational choice models of foreign policy decision making. The second generation (2000–present) began to incorporate concepts associated with prospect theory and related experimental literature on group risk taking into existing mid-level theories of IR and foreign policy behavior. Two substantive areas covered by scholars during this period are coercive diplomacy and great power intervention in the periphery as they relate to loss aversion. Both generations of prospect theory literature suffer from conceptual and methodological difficulties, mainly around the issues of reference point selection, framing, and preference reversal outside laboratory settings.

Self–Other Differences in Decision-Making Under Risk

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 226-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingyi Lu ◽  
Xuesong Shang ◽  
Bingjie Li
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Decision Making Under Risk ◽  
Behavioral Consequences ◽  
Decisions Under Risk ◽  
Decisions For Others ◽  
Interpersonal Concerns ◽  
Risky Decisions

Abstract. Decisions made for others reflect not only decision-makers’ cognitive and emotional states but also decision-makers’ interpersonal concerns. People who make choices for others will potentially be blamed for unappealing outcomes by others. Therefore, we hypothesize that individuals will seek sure gains (which increase individuals’ responsibility for desirable outcomes) and avoid sure losses (which decrease individuals’ responsibility for undesirable outcomes) when making risky decisions for others more than when making such decisions for themselves. The results of two studies show that making decisions for others (vs. oneself) promotes risk-averse choices over gains. This effect may be driven by the perceived responsibility associated with different options. When both options exhibit variance in outcomes, such self–other difference disappears. However, no self–other difference over losses was observed. Taken together, our research highlights interpersonal concerns in making decisions for others, as well as the behavioral consequences of these concerns in decisions under risk.

scholarly journals Using Insights from Prospect Theory to Enhance Sustainable Decision Making by Agribusinesses in Argentina

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimena Gonzalez-Ramirez ◽  
Poonam Arora ◽  
Guillermo Podesta
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Statistical Testing ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Corporate Managers ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Decisions Under Risk ◽  
Gains And Losses

Farm production often involves family-owned agribusinesses where decisions are made by households or individuals, not corporate managers. As these decisions have important economic, environmental, and social implications, decision-making processes must be understood to foster sustainable agricultural production. Decision experiments, involving lotteries, targeting farmers in the Argentine Pampas were used to estimate prospect theory (PT) parameters. Results suggest that decisions under risk are better represented by prospect theory than by expected utility (EU) theory: Decision makers treat gains and losses differently and use subjective probabilities of outcomes; they are quite loss averse and are more likely to overweigh probabilities of infrequent events, such as large droughts or floods. Statistical testing revealed heterogeneity in the risk tied to land tenure (land owners vs. renters) and agribusiness roles (farmers vs. technical advisors). Perceptions of risk, probability, and outcomes played a large role in the sustainability of production. Due to a strong desire to avoid losses, decision makers have a greater short term focus: Immediate economic outcomes are more salient, and environmental and social investments are framed as costs rather than long-term gains. This research can help design policies, programs, and tools that assist agribusinesses in managing better contradictions across the triple bottom line to ensure greater sustainability.

scholarly journals Three Cheers—Psychological, Theoretical, Empirical—for Loss Aversion

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Camerer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
Psychological Foundation ◽  
Petersburg Paradox ◽  
Stable Feature

This note emphasizes the special role of prospect theory in drawing psychophysical considerations into theories of decision making with respect to risk. An example of such a consideration is the dependence of outcome value on a reference point and the increased sensitivity of loss relative to gain (i.e., loss aversion). Loss aversion can explain the St. Petersburg paradox without requiring concave utility, it has the correct psychological foundation, it is theoretically useful, and it is a parsimonious principle that can explain many puzzles. A few open questions are whether loss aversion is a stable feature of preference, whether it is an expression of fear, and what are its properties.

scholarly journals Decision-Making for Fire Emergency of Urban Rail Transit Based on Prospect Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Yuning Wang ◽  
Yingzi Liang ◽  
Hui Sun ◽  
Yufei Yang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Urban Rail Transit ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
Rail Transit ◽  
Emergency Plans ◽  
Urban Rail ◽  
Property Losses

Fire emergency response of urban rail transit is a complex multiattribute risk decision-making problem. In emergency response analysis, it is necessary to consider the psychological behaviors of decision-makers such as reference dependence, loss aversion, and judge distortion. Applying different emergency plans can intervene the development and evolution of urban rail emergency fire and may even result in different levels of casualties and property losses. For this situation, this paper proposes an emergency response decision-making method based on prospect theory. First, according to the prospect theory, this paper quantitatively describes the comprehensive psychological perception of decision-makers for casualties and property losses in different situations. Then, the psychological perception of decision-makers for the important levels of different situations is calculated. Third, according to the situation comprehensive values, situation weights, and the cost inputs of emergency plans, the comprehensive prospect values of each emergency plan are calculated, and the fire emergency plans can be ranked based on comprehensive prospect value. At last, the fire emergency disposal of Tianjin rail transportation line 3 is considered as the background in this paper. The feasibility and effectiveness of the purposed method is illustrated through the case study.

Prospect Theory and Political Decision-Making

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janice Gross Stein ◽  
Lior Sheffer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Decision Making

Prospect theory has been adopted unevenly across different domains of political decision-making. Research drawing on prospect theory has contributed to important advances in the understanding of processes of elite decision-making in foreign policy and domestic politics. Political scientists have also contributed several important extensions of and qualifications to prospect theory that augment the original theoretical framework and are applicable in other disciplines. The next wave of research needs to be far more careful in specifying the scope conditions that have been the focus of research in behavioral economics. Scholars will also have to pay closer attention to the distribution of probability estimates across options; whether political decision makers are choosing among risky/certain bimodal distributions, high-probability distributions, high/low distributions, or low-probability distributions matters to the predicted impact of framing effects. Finally, studies will need to pay greater attention to the information political decision makers are given and to the impact of group dynamics in political settings. Identifying the scope conditions of prospect theory in the context of political and policymaking processes over time can make a significant contribution to the explanation of both domestic and foreign policy decisions, fill a gap between individual-level choice and institutionally based outcomes, and provide a stronger behavioral foundation for understanding the dynamics of multiactor policy choice.

Multi-stage group risk decision making with grey numbers based on grey target and prospect theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuli Yan ◽  
Sifeng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Expected Utility Theory ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Zero Reference ◽  
Grey Number ◽  
Risk Decision

Purpose – With respect to multi-stage group risk decision-making problems in which all the attribute values take the form of grey number, and the weights of stages and decision makers are unknown, the purpose of this paper is to propose a new decision-making method based on grey target and prospect theory. Design/methodology/approach – First, the sequencing and distance between two grey numbers are introduced. Then, a linear operator with the features of the “rewarding good and punishing bad” is presented based on the grey target given by decision maker, and the prospect value function of each attribute based on the zero reference point is defined. Next, weight models of stages and decision makers are suggested, which are based on restriction of stage fluctuation, the maximum differences of alternatives and the maximum entropy theory. Furthermore, the information of alternatives is aggregated by WA operator, the alternatives are selected by their prospect values. Findings – The comprehensive cumulative prospect values are finally aggregated by WA operator, alternatives are selected or not are judged by the sign of the comprehensive prospect theory, if the prospect value of alternative is negative, the corresponding alternative misses the group decision makers’ grey target, on the contrary, if the prospect value of alternative is positive, the corresponding alternative is dropped into the group decision makers’ grey target, the alternative with positive prospect value whose value is the maximum is selected. Originality/value – Compared with the traditional decision-making methods using expected utility theory which suppose the decision makers are all completely rational, the proposed method is based on irrational which is more in line with the decision maker’s psychology. And this method considers the decision maker’s psychological expectation values about every attribute, different satisfactory grey target about attributes will directly affect decision-making result.

Stochastic interval-grey number VIKOR method based on prospect theory

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingsheng LI ◽  
Ni Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Expected Utility Theory ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Vikor Method ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multi Attribute Decision Making ◽  
Grey Number ◽  
Index Weight ◽  
Attribute Value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deal with interval grey-stochastic multi-attribute decision-making problems. It proposes a VIKOR method based on prospect theory in which probabilities and the attribute value are both grey numbers. Design/methodology/approach – In the prospect theory the results values and probability weight are used while the utility and probability values in the expected utility theory, which the more realistically reflect and describe the decision makers on the optimal process. VIKOR method makes the decision acceptable superiority and decision process stability. At the same time, a new interval grey number entropy is put forward, which is used to calculate the index weight of unknown. Findings – The paper provides a VIKOR method based on prospect theory in which probabilities and the attribute value are both grey numbers. And the validity and feasibility of the method are illustrated by an example. Research limitations/implications – Although VIKOR is much closer to PIS than TOPSIS, at the same time VIKOR method can get the compromise solution with priority, researchers are encouraged to carry on comparative study further. Practical implications – The paper includes interval grey-stochastic multi-attribute decision-making method and implications. The validity and feasibility of the method are illustrated by a case. Originality/value – This paper proposes a VIKOR method based on prospect theory in which probabilities and the attribute value are both interval grey numbers. At the same time, a new interval grey number entropy is put forward, which is used to calculate the index weight of unknown.

scholarly journals Dynamic Hybrid Multiple Attribute Decision-Making Problem Based on Reference Point Adaptation

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Wei-Min Ma ◽  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Bing-Zhen Sun ◽  
Neng-Li Wang ◽  
Hai-Yan Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Multiple Attribute Decision Making ◽  
Optimal Choice ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Multiple Attribute ◽  
Decision Making Problem ◽  
Dynamic Hybrid

Individuals’ decision-making depends on reference points in prospect theory. This research considers the bounded rationality of decision makers and constructs a dynamic hybrid multiple attribute decision-making (DHMADM) model. Unlike existing models, the DHMADM model focuses on dynamic reference point, which has been proven in prospect theory. This research presents the effects of reference point adaptation on decision-making through model calculation. The optimal choice of decision makers changed with the change of the reference point in the DHMADM model. By experiment, we found that the DHMADM model considering reference point adaptation can more accurately express the final choice of decision makers than models only considering the static reference point.

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