To manipulate valence, we multiplied all outcome amounts by −1 to produce 56 loss trials (i.e., all outcomes ≤0, and a sure option of −4).
For each probability and expected value, we used a staircase procedure in which the magnitude of the sure option was adjusted dependent on the choice in the previous trials, converging on the certainty equivalent (or indifference point between the risky and sure choices) after six successive choices.
HARDSHIP includes a "not sure" option and applies a rule that "not sure" implies absence of the symptom.
Whereas the BD were slower in their choices of the sure option before feedback compared with healthy volunteers, their response duration hastened for the sure option following feedback.
As in, the agent's evaluations of the desirability of sure options may not be representable by any precise utility function.
The specific items were ranked on 5-item Likert scales, ranging from "Not Important At All" to "Very Important" for the medicine and specialty questions, and a 6-point Likert scale ranging from "Completely Disagree" to "Completely Agree," with "Neither Agree nor Disagree" as a central anchor, and an additional "Not sure" option, for the matrix of primary care attitudinal statements.
Likewise, the more severe the evaluative uncertainty, the more utility measures over the space of sure options needed to conjointly represent the agent's desires.
The vNM theorem is a very important result for measuring the strength of a rational agent's preferences over sure options (the lotteries effectively facilitate a cardinal measure over sure options).
Option A: A sure loss of $890 Option B: A 90% chance to lose $1,000 and a 10% chance to lose nothing.
Imagine, for example, the choice between: Option A: A sure loss of $890 Option B: A 90 percent chance to lose $1,000 and a 10 percent chance to lose nothing.
