Behavioral Patterns of Economic Decision-Making at the Local Level: The Theoretical Principles

The article is aimed at defining the behavioral patterns of economic decision-making at the level of territorial hromadas. The main difference between traditional economic science and behavioral economics is substantiated. The traditional economic model is formed around the behavior of the «economic man», which is characterized by rationality in decision-making, completeness of self-control, limitless cognitive skills, restricted self-interest and stability of preferences; behavioral economics – around the behavior of Humans, which is characterized by numerous behavioral biases, changing preferences, acquiring new skills and further learning, social impact, altruism, etc. Two levels of behavioral economics are highlighted: micro- and macro-levels. The first level involves the study of the peculiarities of individual decision-making, the second involves the study of the impact of the behavior of economic agents on the development of the financial market together with economic growth of territories. It is substantiated that the study of behavioral patterns at the local level in the State requires, first of all, an analysis of the peculiarities of individual decision-making in the context of the developments in the micro-behavioral economics. The principles of behavioral economics, which have a significant impact on the behavioral characteristics of economic entities in the process of economic decision-making, are systematized. Cognitive biases and heuristic methods, features of choice architecture that influence decision-making are defined. Prospects for further research in this direction are the introduction of the principles of behavioral economics in the context of the development of territorial hromadas, in particular, taking into account tendencies in decentralization and the increasing impact of the behavior of certain subjects or groups of such entities on the development of the territory with a decrease in the size of the administrative-territorial unit.

A large-scale survey on finger counting routines, their temporal stability and flexibility in educated adults

A strong link between bodily activity and number processing has been established in recent years. Although numerous observations indicate that adults use finger counting (FC) in various contexts of everyday life for different purposes, existing knowledge of FC routines and their use is still limited. In particular, it remains unknown how stable the (default) FC habits are over time and how flexible they can be. To investigate these questions, 380 Polish participants completed a questionnaire on their FC routines, the stability of these routines, and the context of FC usage, preceded by the request to count on their fingers from 1 to 10. Next, the test–retest stability of FC habits was examined in 84 participants 2 months following the first session. To the best of our knowledge, such a study design has been adopted for the first time. The results indicate that default FC routines of the majority of participants (75%) are relatively stable over time. At the same time, FC routines can flexibly adapt according to the situation (e.g., when holding an object). As regards prevalence, almost all participants, in line with previous findings on Western individuals, declared starting from the closed palm and extending consecutive fingers. Furthermore, we observed relations between FC preferences and handedness (more left-handers start from the left hand) and that actual finger use is still widespread in healthy adults for a variety of activities (the most prevalent uses of FC are listing elements, presenting arguments and plans, and calendar calculations). In sum, the results show the practical relevance of FC in adulthood, the relative stability of preferences over time along with flexible adaptation to a current situation, as well as an association of FC routines with handedness. Taken together our results suggest that FC is the phenomenon, which is moderated or mediated by multiple embodied factors.

Quantum generalized observables framework for psychological data: a case of preference reversals in US elections

Politics is regarded as a vital area of public choice theory, and it is strongly relying on the assumptions of voters’ rationality and as such, stability of preferences. However, recent opinion polls and real election outcomes in the USA have shown that voters often engage in ‘ticket splitting’, by exhibiting contrasting party support in Congressional and Presidential elections (cf. Khrennikova 2014 Phys. Scripta T163 , 014010 ( doi:10.1088/0031-8949/2014/T163/014010 ); Khrennikova & Haven 2016 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 374 , 20150106 ( doi:10.1098/rsta.2015.0106 ); Smith et al. 1999 Am. J. Polit. Sci. 43 , 737–764 ( doi:10.2307/2991833 )). Such types of preference reversals cannot be mathematically captured via the formula of total probability, thus showing that voters’ decision making is at variance with the classical probabilistic information processing framework. In recent work, we have shown that quantum probability describes well the violation of Bayesian rationality in statistical data of voting in US elections, through the so-called interference effects of probability amplitudes. This paper is proposing a novel generalized observables framework of voting behaviour, by using the statistical data collected and analysed in previous studies by Khrennikova (Khrennikova 2015 Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 8951 , 196–209) and Khrennikova & Haven (Khrennikova & Haven 2016 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 374 , 20150106 ( doi:10.1098/rsta.2015.0106 )). This framework aims to overcome the main problems associated with the quantum probabilistic representation of psychological data, namely the non-double stochasticity of transition probability matrices. We develop a simplified construction of generalized positive operator valued measures by formulating special non-orthonormal bases with respect to these operators. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Second quantum revolution: foundational questions’.

Quality of life changes and intensive care preferences in terminal cancer patients

Objective:There is scarce research on the short-term fluctuations in end-of-life (EoL) care planning for seriously ill patients. The aim of our study was to investigate the stability of preferences regarding treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) and identify the factors associated with changes in preferences in terms of quality of life (QoL).Method:A prospective examination on preference changes for ICU care in 141 terminal cancer patients was conducted. Patients were categorized according to their change in preference during the final two months of their lives into four categories: (1) the keep–accept group, (2) the keep–reject group, (3) the change to accept group, and (4) the change to reject group. Using multiple logistic analyses, we explored the association between patient demographics, health-related QoL, and changes in ICU preference.Results:The overall stability of ICU preferences near the end of life was 66.7% (κ = 0.33, p < 0.001). Married patients were more likely to change their preference regarding ICU care [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) toward accept 12.35, p = 0.021; aOR toward reject 10.56, p = 0.020] than unmarried patients. Patients with stable physical function tended to accept ICU care (aOR = 5.05, p = 0.023), whereas those with poor performance (aOR = 5.32, p = 0.018), worsened QoL (aOR = 8.34, p = 0.007), or non-aggravated fatigue (aOR = 8.36, p = 0.006) were more likely to not accept ICU care.Significance of results:The attitudes of terminally ill cancer patients regarding ICU care at the end of life were not stable over time, and changes in their QoL were associated with a tendency to change their preferences about ICU care. Attention should thus be paid to patients' QoL changes to improve medical decision making with regard to EoL care.