Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026
09:07
Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations
Published on: September 16, 2015
The format in which uncertainty information is presented affects decision biases
Daniel A Gottlieb1, Talia Weiss, Gretchen B Chapman
1Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University. dgottlieb@sbc.edu
Psychological Science
|April 21, 2007
Summary
How uncertainty information is presented impacts decision-making biases. Presenting data as percentages reduced one bias while increasing another, suggesting varied cognitive processing of choice behavior.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Human choice behavior is susceptible to cognitive biases.
- Understanding how information format influences these biases is crucial for accurate decision-making models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of different uncertainty information formats on two key choice biases: the common-ratio effect and the common-consequence effect.
- To determine if presentation format influences the underlying mechanisms of these biases.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed decision-making tasks involving common-ratio and common-consequence problems.
- Uncertainty information was presented in four formats: percentages, frequencies, serial experience, and simultaneous experience.
- Verbal and nonverbal estimates of outcome likelihoods were recorded.
Main Results:
- Presenting uncertainty as percentages attenuated the common-ratio effect but augmented the common-consequence effect.
- Participants' verbal percentage estimates of likelihoods were consistent across formats.
- Nonverbal estimates of outcome likelihoods varied significantly based on the information format.
Conclusions:
- The format of uncertainty information significantly affects human choice behavior and cognitive biases.
- Percentage-based uncertainty is processed differently, impacting biases distinctively.
- These findings suggest different underlying mechanisms for the common-ratio and common-consequence effects.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
00:59Uncertainty: Overview
In analytical chemistry, we often perform repetitive measurements to detect and minimize inaccuracies caused by both determinate and indeterminate errors. Despite the cares we take, the presence of random errors means that repeated measurements almost never have exactly the same magnitude. The collective difference between these measurements - observed values - and the estimated or expected value is called uncertainty. Uncertainty is conventionally written after the estimated or expected value.
03:26Framing Effects
Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in different ways based on the...
01:09First Impression
First impressions play a crucial role in social perception, shaping how individuals assess others in professional, academic, and interpersonal contexts. Psychological research highlights the significance of cognitive biases, such as the primacy and recency effects, which influence how people interpret and recall information.The Primacy Effect and Cognitive AnchoringThe primacy effect describes the tendency for initial information to impact judgment disproportionately. When individuals encounter...
00:54Uncertainty: Confidence Intervals
The confidence interval is the range of values around the mean that contains the true mean. It is expressed as a probability percentage. The interpretation of a 95% confidence interval, for instance, is that the statistician is 95% confident that the true mean falls within the interval. The upper and lower limits of this range are known as confidence limits. The confidence limits for the true mean are estimated from the sample's mean, the standard deviation, and the statistical factor 't,' or...
01:22Bias
Bias refers to any tendency that prevents a question from being considered unprejudiced. In research, bias occurs when one outcome or answer is selected or encouraged over others in sampling or testing. Bias can occur during any research phase, including study design, data collection, analysis, and publication.
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
01:25The Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic
In order to make good decisions, we use our knowledge and our reasoning. Often, this knowledge and reasoning is sound and solid. However, sometimes, we are swayed by biases or by others manipulating a situation. For example, let’s say you and three friends wanted to rent a house and had a combined target budget of $1,600. The realtor shows you only very run-down houses for $1,600 and then shows you a very nice house for $2,000. Might you ask each person to pay more in rent to get the $2,000...