Research Article

The affect heuristic and the attractiveness of simple gambles

  1. Ian Bateman1,2,
  2. Sam Dent1,
  3. Ellen Peters3,
  4. Paul Slovic3,4,*,
  5. Chris Starmer5

Article first published online: 30 JAN 2007

DOI: 10.1002/bdm.558

Issue

Journal of Behavioral Decision Making

Journal of Behavioral Decision Making

Volume 20, Issue 4, pages 365–380, October 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Bateman, I., Dent, S., Peters, E., Slovic, P. and Starmer, C. (2007), The affect heuristic and the attractiveness of simple gambles. J. Behav. Decis. Making, 20: 365–380. doi: 10.1002/bdm.558

Author Information

  1. 1

    Programme on Environmental Decision Making (PEDM), Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

  2. 2

    Centre for Economic and Behavioural Analysis of Risk and Decision (CEBARD), UEA and Adjunct Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

  3. 3

    Decision Research, 1201 Oak Street, Suite 200, Eugene, Oregon, 97401, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403, USA

  5. 5

    Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

*Decision Research, 1201 Oak Street, Suite 200, Eugene, Oregon 97401, USA.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 SEP 2007
  2. Article first published online: 30 JAN 2007

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Keywords:

  • affect heuristic;
  • preference construction;
  • evaluability;
  • gambles

Abstract

Prior studies have observed that the attractiveness of playing a simple gamble (7/36 to win $9; otherwise win nothing) is greatly enhanced by introducing a small loss (7/36 win $9; otherwise lose 5¢). The present studies tested and confirmed an explanation of this finding based on the concept of evaluability and the affect heuristic. Evaluators of the “no-loss” gamble lack a precise feeling for how good $9 is, hence give it little weight in their judgment. In the second gamble, comparison with the small loss makes $9 “come alive with feeling” and become weighted in the judgment, thus increasing the attractiveness of the gamble. These results demonstrate the importance of contextual factors in determining affect and preference for simple risk-taking opportunities. They show that the meaning, utility, and weighting of even a very familiar monetary outcome such as $9 is not fixed, but depends greatly on these contextual factors. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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