Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-158).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 76 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-39).

In this dissertation, I examine two research questions. In chapters 2 and 3, based on idea of reference value that was first proposed by Kahneman and Tversky, I look at a potential house seller’s pricing strategy when the reference value plays a role. In chapter 2, I focus on the reference-dependence and its implications on loss aversion behavior, and I compare model predictions with documented empirical findings in the literature. In particular, I show that the stylized empirical evidence in the literature has relatively limited power on testing loss aversion, and I provide new specifications that aim to correctly test the loss aversion effect. In chapter 3, I examine a reference-dependent seller’s pricing strategy in a less heterogeneous housing market such as the multi-unit residential market. Acknowledging the fact that units in the same building serve as close substitutes for each other, I show that the recent transaction price on a unit in the same building may generate two signaling effects. First, the average willingness to pay among buyers is positively correlated with the observed price, which generates a spatio-temporal autocorrelation effect; second, after observing the prior price, the heterogeneity of the potential buyer’s willingness to pay decreases, inducing house sellers to mark down their asking prices. In chapter 4, I examine the power of monitoring and forcing contract on improving the managerial efficiency of REITs. I put particular emphasis on its implications regarding the choice of advisor type in REITs. I show that, for both internal and external advisors, increasing levels of monitoring power will increase their equilibrium effort under a stochastic forcing contract. Furthermore, I show that a crucial driving force regarding advisor choice is the heterogeneity of monitoring power between internal and external advisors and across REIT firms. Provided that the gap of monitoring power is large enough between internal and external advisors, shareholders could make use of the heterogeneity, and induce higher effort from external advisors. Hence, I am able to provide a theoretical justification regarding the potential appeal of an external managerial structure, which is usually regarded as being inferior to an internal managerial structure.

In this dissertation, I examine two research questions. In chapters 2 and 3, based on idea of reference value that was first proposed by Kahneman and Tversky, I look at a potential house seller’s pricing strategy when the reference value plays a role. In chapter 2, I focus on the reference-dependence and its implications on loss aversion behavior, and I compare model predictions with documented empirical findings in the literature. In particular, I show that the stylized empirical evidence in the literature has relatively limited power on testing loss aversion, and I provide new specifications that aim to correctly test the loss aversion effect. In chapter 3, I examine a reference-dependent seller’s pricing strategy in a less heterogeneous housing market such as the multi-unit residential market. Acknowledging the fact that units in the same building serve as close substitutes for each other, I show that the recent transaction price on a unit in the same building may generate two signaling effects. First, the average willingness to pay among buyers is positively correlated with the observed price, which generates a spatio-temporal autocorrelation effect; second, after observing the prior price, the heterogeneity of the potential buyer’s willingness to pay decreases, inducing house sellers to mark down their asking prices. In chapter 4, I examine the power of monitoring and forcing contract on improving the managerial efficiency of REITs. I put particular emphasis on its implications regarding the choice of advisor type in REITs. I show that, for both internal and external advisors, increasing levels of monitoring power will increase their equilibrium effort under a stochastic forcing contract. Furthermore, I show that a crucial driving force regarding advisor choice is the heterogeneity of monitoring power between internal and external advisors and across REIT firms. Provided that the gap of monitoring power is large enough between internal and external advisors, shareholders could make use of the heterogeneity, and induce higher effort from external advisors. Hence, I am able to provide a theoretical justification regarding the potential appeal of an external managerial structure, which is usually regarded as being inferior to an internal managerial structure. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Previous research has indicated two distinctive characteristics of flavour-aversion learning in rats: (1) rats very readily associate flavors with an internal malaise (toxicosis) , as evidenced by their subsequent aversion to the flavor, but they do not readily associate flafors with peripherally-applied electric shock. In contrast, rats readily associate auditory and visual stimuli with shock but not with toxicosis; (2) rats associate flavors with a subsequent toxicosis even when the gustatory stimulus is removed hours prior to onset of toxicosis. However, associations are formed between audio/visual cues and shock only if the offset of the signal does not precede onset of shock by more than one or two minutes. It has been suggested that the unique features of flavour-aversionn learning result from the fact that toxicosis is primarily a visceral experience while shock is applied to somesthetic receptors. However, toxicosis differs from shock along a number of dimensions in addition to receptor site. Most notably, toxicosis typically rises to a peak intensity over a period of many minutes and lasts for hours while shock is usually applied with a rapid onset (milliseconds) and short duration (seconds or milliseconds). Inasmuch as aversion learning experiments have confounded the receptor site of the aversive stimulus with its distinctive temporal features, it is not clear whether receptor site or temporal features is the functionally important characteristic of toxicosis as an aversive stimulus in the taste-aversion learning preparation. To determine the role played by the temporal features of the aversive stimulus in taste-aversion learning, rats were prepared with a stomach balloon and stomach balloon inflation was paired with ingestion of a flavored solution. In contrast to toxicosis, the onset/offset rate and duration of balloon inflation may be directly manipulated thus permitting application of a relatively discrete internal stimulus (in comparison to toxicosis) to visceral receptors. Experiments presented here found: (a) rats associated a flavor with a stomach balloon inflation as indicated by an aversion to the flavor during a two-solution preference test. In contrast to toxicosis, the stomach balloon inflation had a rapid onset (seconds) and short duration (minutes). Control groups demonstrated that the rapid onset, short duration balloon inflation did not produce the long lasting malaise characteristic of toxicosis. (b) Rats associated a flavor with a rapid onset, short duration balloon inflation even when exposure to the flavor was terminated many minutes prior to onset of balloon inflation. (c) Rats readily associated a flavor with balloon inflation but not with shock, and an auditory stimulus with shock but not with balloon inflation, even though balloon inflation and shock were equated in terms of their temporal parameters. These findings clearly indicate that the very slow onset and long duration characteristics of toxicosis are not the functionally important features of toxicosis as the aversive stimulus in the taste-aversion learning preparation. Furthermore, the unique temporal features of toxicosis and shock do not appear responsible for the distinctive characteristics of flavor-aversion learning in rats. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No / It is demonstrated that small marketable gambles that are unattractive to a Standard Risk Averse investor cannot be made attractive even if certain independent background risks that decrease expected marginal utility are added.

abstract: Delay discounting is the decline in the present value of a reward with delay to its receipt. (Mazur,1987). The delay discounting task is used to measure delay discounting rate, which requires the participants to choose between two options: one involves immediate delivery of a reward, and other involves delivery after a delay, and the immediate rewards are adjusted in value until the subject feels there is no difference between the immediate and the delayed reward. Some previous studies (Robles and Vargas, 2007; 2008; Robles et al., 2009) found that the order of presentation of the immediate rewards (ascending or descending) significantly influenced the estimated delay discounting rate, which is known as the order effect. Uncertainty about the future and impulsivity could explain delay discounting behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore the order effect in delay discounting assessment. The current study found that the order effect in the delay discounting task can be explained by risk aversion, loss aversion and impulsivity. In the current study, the two kinds of fixed procedure (ascending and descending), and the titrating delay discounting task were used to estimate the degree of delay discounting. Also, two gambling tasks were applied to measure risk and loss aversion indices. The BIS-11 scale was used to assess the level of trait impulsivity. The results indicated that impulsivity biases individuals to choose the immediate small reward rather than the large delayed reward, resulting in lower area under the discounting curve (AUC) when estimated with the ascending-sequence delay discounting task. Also, impulsivity moderated the relationship between loss aversion and AUC estimated with the descending-sequence delay discounting task. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2018

根據進化心理學理論，厭惡情緒是通過啟動回避行為來抵禦潛在的病菌的感染而演化出來的行為免疫系統。在進化過程中，厭惡情緒通過組間和組內兩種策略來防止病菌的侵害。組間策略包括回避組間個體以及可能攜帶病菌的人或物，組內策略包括作出更多的從眾行為以及更嚴格的道德判斷。本研究旨在對厭惡情緒的組內策略進行研究。已有實驗顯示厭惡情緒促使成年被試對道德違背行為的判斷更嚴格以及做出更多的從眾行為。目前還沒有研究考察這種影響隨著年齡的增長會出現怎樣變化，因此本研究從發展的角度考察厭惡情緒對道德判斷和從眾行為的影響。研究一以小學一年級、四年級兒童和成人為被試。結果顯示，厭惡組中小學四年級和成人的道德評價比中性組更為嚴格；控制組中一年級、四年級和成人被試都存在厭惡情緒評分與行為判斷的相關。研究二以小學一年級、五年級、初中以及高中學生為被試，使用焦慮情緒和中性情緒啟動組作為對照。研究發現厭惡情緒對被試的從眾得分影響不顯著。對控制組中的五年級、初中和高中被試的回歸分析發現，厭惡圖片引發的焦慮情緒越高從眾得分越高。在社會道德反射問卷上，五年級和高中的厭惡組被試的道德判斷比中性組更為嚴格。在道德違背行為判斷上，五年級和高中的厭惡組被試的道德評價比焦慮組更為嚴格。同時回歸分析發現厭惡圖片引發的厭惡情緒越高道德判斷越嚴格。 / 與預期一致，厭惡情緒對小學低年級兒童的道德判斷並沒有影響，厭惡情緒對道德判斷的影響出現在小學高年級，並從高中階段一直持續到成人階段。與預期不符的是，厭惡情緒對初中生的道德判斷沒有影響。此外，沒有出現厭惡情緒對從眾行為的影響，而是發現厭惡圖片誘發的焦慮感受越強從眾行為越多。總之，本研究發現厭惡情緒可能是道德判斷內化的基礎，而厭惡材料引發的焦慮情緒可能是引起從眾行為增加的原因。將來的研究可以重點考察厭惡情緒的組內策略在中學階段是如何發展的，以及厭惡啟動材料誘發的厭惡情緒和焦慮情緒對從眾行為是否有不同的影響。 / According to the perspective of evolutionary psychology, disgust is an integral part of behavioral immune system evolvedto resist the potential infectious disease by activating avoidance behavior. Specifically, disease infection can be minimized by between-group vs. within-group strategies of disgusting emotion, i.e., by avoiding out-group people and those who may carry disease vs. by complying with the majority and with rigid morality standards, respectively. This dissertation focuses on the within-group strategy. Previous studies showed that disgusting emotion increased conformity behaviors and triggered more severe moral judgments in young adults and it is still unknown how this influence developed as children grew up. To fill up this gap, I investigated the impact of disgust on moral judgments and conformity behaviors from the developmental perspective. In Study 1, we compared the moral judgments in the states of disgust vs. neutral emotionin primary school students (grades 1 and 4) and young adults. Results revealed the influence of disgust emotion on the moral judgment in grade 4 students and adults, but not in grade 1 students. In the control group, there were significant correlations between disgust evaluation and moral judgment in all participant groups. In Study 2 that involved grades 1 and 5 primary school, middle school, and high school students, I investigated the influence of disgust emotion on the conformity behavior and moral judgment by using both anxiety and neutral groups as controls. Results showed no difference between disgust group and control group on conformity scores. However, for the neutral group in grade 5, middle school, and high school students, the higher anxiety induced by disgusting pictures, the higher the participants’ conformity scores. In moral judgments in sociomoral reflection measures-short form, grade 5 and high school students showed harsher judgments in the disgust group than in the neutral group. As to behaviors’ moral judgment, grade 5 and high school students showed harsher judgments in the disgust group than in the anxiety group. Regression analyses showed that the stronger disgust feeling induced by disgusting pictures, the harsher moral judgments the participants made. / Consistent with my prediction, disgust emotion influenced the moral judgments in higher-grade primary school students and this persisted from high-school age to young adults and did not influence the moral judgments in lower-grade primary school students. Contrary to my expectation, there was no influence of disgust emotion on the moral judgment in middle school students and no influence of disgust emotion on conformity behavior in all participant groups. However, anxiety induced by disgusting pictures predicted the conformity scores, suggesting that anxiety should be taken into account when investigating the effect of disgust emotion. Overall, consistent with evolutionary psychology theories, disgust can be the foundation of internalization of moral judgment. but inconsistent with evolutionary psychology theories, anxiety, rather than disgust, induced by disgusting pictures predicted the conformity scores. Future studies should emphasize more on the within-group strategies of disgust emotion in middle school students and investigate the differential effects of disgust and anxiety emotion induced by disgust stimuli on the conformity behavior. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 彭明. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-104). / Abstracts also in English. / Peng Ming.

Two different types of games are used to measure subjects¡¦ attitudes towards risk and ambiguity in this paper. In GAME 1, subjects are provided with a series of binary choices and a fill-in question for every set of tasks. In GAME 2, subjects are asked to play an auction game. Gains and losses stimulate subjects¡¦ different attitudes toward risk. It also happens when we measure subjects¡¦ attitude toward ambiguity. However, the results of Game 1 and Game 2 lack strong correlation with each other. While answering the series of binary choices in Game 1, subjects are risk averse/ambiguity averse over gains, and risk seeking/ambiguity seeking over losses. While answering the fill-in question in Game 1, subjects are risk neutral/ambiguity neutral over gains, and risk seeking/ambiguity seeking over losses. In GAME 2, we measure the attitude toward risk or attitude by the deviation from the case of neutrality or by risk indexes/ambiguity indexes. Analyzing the deviation, we conclude: (1) In the gains domain with high average probabilities to win, subjects are risk averse/ambiguity averse, but in the case of low average probabilities to win, subjects are risk seeking/ambiguity seeking. On the other hand, in the losses domain with high average probabilities to loss, subjects are risk seeking/ambiguity seeking, but when with low average probabilities to loss, subjects are risk aversion/ambiguity aversion. (2) The correlation between the attitudes toward risk and ambiguity gains is significantly greater than that over losses. (3) In the gains domain, the level of ambiguity aversion of subjects significantly increases with the ambiguous ranges of games. However, in the losses domain, the relation between those two is weak or non-significant. Analyzing the data with the risk indexes and the ambiguity indexes, we have two conclusions identical to the above. However, in the gains domain, the level of ambiguity aversion of subjects significantly increases with the ambiguity range of the games while we have the opposite result in the losses domain.

The concept of competence hypothesis identified by Heath and Tversky (1991) proposes that ambiguity aversion is affected by the subjective competence level of participants. When people feel knowledgeable or skillful in a field, they would rather bet on their own judgment even with uncertainty. However, when participants do not feel knowledgeable or skillful, they prefer betting on the unambiguous chance event. Therefore, the bias of ambiguity aversion is conditional on the subjective competence level of the participants. Our study selects managers of open and domestic stock type mutual funds to be study objects. There are 12 months during the study period, starting from April 2004 and ending in March 2005. In the first part of this paper, we investigate whether the competence effect influences professional managers¡¦ behaviors. We explore the relation between manager competence and mutual fund holding bias by conducting multiple regression analysis. Our study finds competence effect in the behaviors of mutual fund managers. A positive relation exists between manager competence and mutual fund holding electronic stocks bias. When manager competence is high, the mutual fund holdings in electronics stocks will be either more or less than the market. That is, weighting of holding electronics categorized stocks in mutual fund clearly deviate from the weighting of electronics categorized stocks in the market. However, when manager competence is not high, weighting of holding electronics categorized stocks in mutual fund follows that in the market. The other hypothesis proposes that manager competence is not relevant to the £] of mutual fund portfolio. Secondly, we explore the factors that affect manager competence by conducting logistic regression analysis. Among the five variables which may affect mutual fund manager competence, we find ¡§fund size¡¨ the only factor that is positively relevant to mutual fund manager competence. In other words, the larger the mutual funds, the more likely that managers will perceive themselves as skillful and knowledgeable. The other four variables are the manager¡¦s previous fund management experience, educational level, gender, and performance of mutual fund in the past year. They are not related to competence.