Numerous studies have shown a discrepancy between how much an individual will accept to give up an object and how much an individual will pay to acquire the same good. This discrepancy is more commonly known as the endowment effect. Although scholars have generated a vast literature demonstrating the existence of the endowment effect, the underlying psychological mechanisms that account for this phenomenon remain a source of controversy. In the following dissertation, two different psychological processes are proposed to account for the WTP/WTA discrepancy: the use of a bargaining script and cognitive engagement through object interaction. Experiment 1 explores how the use of a bargaining schema affects buyers' and sellers' valuations of a mug. Experiment 2 examines the role object interaction plays in an individual's decisions about an object's value. Each of these studies presents new data that provide novel insights into the potential psychological processes that underlie the endowment effect. / text

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

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第20567号 / 医博第4252号 / 新制||医||1022(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 古川 壽亮, 教授 髙橋 良輔, 教授 富樫 かおり / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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Humans exhibit a number of suboptimal behaviours in the wake of a loss. For example, gamblers often ‘chase' their losses in an attempt to break even. Similarly, investors tend to hold on to losing stocks too long in the hope that the declining share price might make a recovery. However, the neural mechanisms that instantiate such behaviour are poorly understood. I begin the introductory chapter with a basic historical overview of fundamental economic concepts, interleaving intersecting ideas from psychology and neuroscience. This leads to a more in-depth exploration of the notion that loss-related behavioural biases might provide insight into the neural mechanisms that underlie risky choice. From this, I argue that rats represent a viable animal model of risky decision- making for neuroeconomic research. The original research presented in Chapters 2 – 5 pave the way toward advancing our current understanding of loss-related biases in behaviour with rat models of risky decision-making. By employing insight from psychology and economics, I developed two models of rat behaviour that can be used to study the neural substrates of loss valuation. I presented the experimental paradigms in Chapters 2 and 5, while demonstrating novel loss-related correlations between the midbrain dopamine system and observed loss behaviour in Chapters 3 and 4. The results presented in Chapter 5 demonstrate that rats are capable of producing behavioural patterns akin to loss aversion and the disposition effect. This work has also highlighted a number of areas for future research. In Chapter 6, I explore potential theoretical implications of the results discussed in previous chapters. In summary, this thesis uses experimental risky decision-making tasks in rats to advance our current knowledge of the ways in which concepts such as loss aversion critically influence our internal representation of value.

This thesis studies the labour supply with aspiration-based reference-dependent preferences. The first contribution of the thesis is the theoretical modelling of behavioural contract theory. In Chapter 1, I modify the classical principal-agent model with uncertainty and moral hazard by replacing the Expected Utility preferences of the agent with chance theory preferences (Schmidt and Zank, 2013). Chance theory agents are primarily concerned with the sure wage they can obtain, i.e., the certain component in their contract, as they treat increments in bonuses markedly different to similar changes in sure wages. Similar to the classical predictions, our agents' optimal contracts are contingent payment schemes, however, they differ with respect to the level of the sure wage. I also contrast my predictions to those of the model of Herweg et al. (2010), who assume agents with expectation-based loss-averse preferences. The other contribution of this thesis is the empirical support for the theory of aspiration-based reference-dependent preferences with field data in education economics. In Chapter 2, I study aspiration-based reference-dependent preferences in undergraduate students' performance and effort provision. Students' reference points are set as their targeted grades. I extend a two-period economics-of-education model (Krohn and O'Connor, 2005) by proposing an additional utility function that is based on the difference between the realised grade and targeted grade. I design surveys and collect data by following a group of undergraduate students at the University of Manchester for two semesters of a full academic year with a two-period panel. My results provide evidence for students' reference-dependent preferences in two ways: first, a significant jump in students' proxied utility of grade is found at the reference point, which also implies students are loss averse. Second, the reference point positively affects students' effort provision. I further study the formation of the reference point and its variation over time. My results suggest that students partially update their past realised results into the formation of reference points. Further, the relative change of their reference points depends on the achievement of the past period reference point.

This research is motivated by a number of open questions in the behavioural finance literature. Firstly, if investors do not learn in a rational Bayesian manner but rather suffer from biases set out in the naïve reinforcement hypothesis, rationality assumptions in individual preference models may not hold. I use a unique longitudinal dataset comprising in excess of 1.5 million fixed-odds financial bets, where bettors perform identical, consecutive decisions which mimic financial choices made in a laboratory, but the use of their own funds departs from the artificiality of an experiment. I present evidence of unwarranted overconfidence generated by reinforcement learning in both real and simulated markets. Secondly, Kahneman and Tversky (1979) state that losses loom larger than gains. I examine whether the disposition to avoid losses is driving behaviour in the losing domain in the dataset and conclude that there is little evidence of loss aversion. I differentiate between betting on Financial Markets, in which agents may perceive an internal locus of control, and betting on the simulated market, where results are uncorrelated and in which the emotions of regret and disappointment may not loom as large. Finally, Odean (1998) provides evidence that investors readily realise paper gains by selling their winning stocks, yet hold on to their losing stocks too long. This loss aversion is consistent with Kahneman and Tversky (1979) prospect theory, however, how long would the investor hold on to a stock that is losing value on a day-to-day basis? Conversely, would an investor rush to sell a stock that has yielded positive returns in each month during the past year? I test the interaction between learning and loss aversion in a financial betting experiment in which two treatment groups are subjected to consecutive gains or losses.

<p>Den traditionella förväntade nyttoteorin har kritiserats för att inte vara realistisk i sina förutsägelser om hur beslut tas vid risk. Eftersom de flesta situationer innefattar någon form av risk är det viktigt att utreda ifall man bör söka efter en alternativ teori. I denna uppsats undersöks hur väl nyttoteorin och en konkurrent till denna, prospektteorin, kan förklara riskbeteendet hos Black Jack-spelare. Detta görs genom en studie av fem individers spelbeteende på en krog i centrala Jönköping. Materialet analyseras både grafiskt och statistiskt genom att undersöka om individernas beteende förändras beroende på utfallet dels i de fem senaste händerna och dels under hela spelomgången. Resultaten tyder på att individer tar bättre beslut om de har en ackumulerad vinst och sämre beslut om de har en ackumulerad förlust under den tidigare spelomgången, vilket är förenligt med prospektteorin. Samtidigt upptäcks en uttröttningseffekt som leder till sämre beslut tagna ju längre man har spelat, som ingen av teorierna förutsäger. En spelare som har en vinst kan kompensera för denna effekt, men en spelare med förlust kommer att ta sämre beslut både på grund av förlusten och på grund av uttröttning i något som kan kallas för en förlustspiral.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-104).

In previous research, aggregation of returns has been found as a way to counteract the risk averse behavior that is the result of investors' myopia. This paper expands the study of aggregation by analyzing its effect on forward looking probabilities. Namely, through the disaggregation of future information, subjects become myopic and trade with varying risk preferences. In an experimental market, subjects trading securities with disaggregated forward looking information are found to 'buy high and sell low', while subjects trading the same securities, but with aggregated information, trade with more consistent risk preferences.