Decision making under risk: framing effects in pigeon risk preferences

Area of Science:

• Animal Behavior
• Comparative Psychology
• Decision Science

Background:

• Human decision-making is influenced by framing effects, particularly loss aversion versus gain preference.
• Understanding animal decision-making provides insights into the evolution of economic and foraging behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate pigeons' choices between risky and safe probabilistic outcomes.
• To determine if pigeons exhibit framing effects similar to humans when choices involve gains or losses.
• To explore the role of potential gains and losses in shaping risk preferences in pigeons.

Main Methods:

• Pigeons were presented with choices between a risky (variable) outcome and a safe (constant) outcome with identical net rewards.
• Experiments systematically varied whether outcomes represented losses, gains, or neutral outcomes.
• A final experiment manipulated the presence of a gain associated solely with the safe alternative.

Main Results:

• Pigeons preferred risky outcomes when choices represented losses.
• Pigeons showed indifference when outcomes represented gains.
• Pigeons strongly preferred risky outcomes when there was no gain or loss.
• When the safe option offered a gain, pigeons preferred the safe alternative.

Conclusions:

• Pigeons' risk preferences are sensitive to the framing of outcomes as losses or gains.
• Unlike humans' typical risk aversion, pigeons may exhibit risk-seeking tendencies, especially when potential losses are involved.
• Findings contribute to understanding decision-making across species, informing economic and foraging theories.