Expectations and Preferences for Sequences of Health and Money

Author: Chapman G.B.

Source: Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 67, Number 1, July 1996 , pp. 59-75(17)

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Abstract:

Three experiments demonstrated that preferences for sequences of money differed from preferences for sequences of health. Undergraduates gave preference ratings for graphs that illustrated how monetary income or health quality might change over time, with total amount of money or health held constant. In Experiment 1, subjects expected to experience health that decreased over a lifetime; they also preferred such a sequence. In contrast, they expected to experience increasing monetary income over their lifetimes and preferred such monetary sequences. Experiment 2 showed that these different preferences for sequences of health and money did not hold true for short, 1-year sequences, where subjects had similar expectations about health and money. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 and showed that expectations mediate the effect on preference of decision domain (health or money) and sequence length. These results point to the importance of expectations in forming preferences for sequences.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: Departments of Medical Education and Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Publication date: 1996-07-01