Search

Research suggests that for many people happiness is being able to make the routines of everyday life work, such that positive feelings dominate over negative feelings resulting from daily hassles. In line with this, a survey of work commuters in the three largest urban areas of Sweden show that satisfaction with the work commute contributes to overall happiness. It is also found that feelings during the commutes are predominantly positive or neutral. Possible explanatory factors include desirable physical exercise from walking and biking, as well as that short commutes provide a buffer between the work and private spheres. For longer work commutes, social and entertainment activities either increase positive affects or counteract stress and boredom. Satisfaction with being employed in a recession may also spill over to positive experiences of work commutes. (Contains 5 tables and 3 footnotes.)

Do owned objects become more valued if lost and found? In Experiment 1, Prolific participants (n = 128) imagined having lost a laptop. The results showed a preference for finding the laptop instead of replacing it with a new at no cost. The preference was even stronger if the laptop had been used longer (2 months instead of 2 days) and was certain to be found without any cost. Experiment 2 recruited additional Prolific participants to investigate the role of positive affect evoked by finding or expecting to find a lost object. In a Lost condition (n = 50), participants imagined having lost an expensive pair of gloves which later was found. Compared to a No Loss condition (n = 50), preference to keep the gloves was higher. Increased value and positive affect partially mediated this preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated learning of the value of money from product prices in an unfamiliar currency when the prices are proportional to quantity. In support of the second stage of a hypothesized 2-stage process of learning, Experiment 1, in which 32 undergraduates participated, shows that response times for inferences of quantity are longer when participants are presented with quantity-price pairs than when they are presented with price-quantity pairs. Experiments 2 and 3, in which 54 and 34 undergraduates participated, respectively, show that (a) stochastic price variation causes systematic errors in the learning of unit prices from quantity-price pairs as a result of judgmental regression effects and (b) in support of the 2-stage learning hypothesis, inferences of quantity are the inverse of the learned unit prices.

In 4 experiments, undergraduates made hypothetical investment choices. In Experiment 1, participants paid more attention to the volatility of individual assets than to the volatility of aggregated portfolios. The results of Experiment 2 show that most participants diversified even when this increased risk because of covariation between the returns of individual assets. In Experiment 3, nearly half of those who seemingly attempted to minimize risk diversified even when this increased risk. These results indicate that novice investors neglect covariation when diversifying across investment alternatives. Experiment 4 established that naive diversification follows from motivation to minimize risk and showed that covariation neglect was not significantly reduced by informing participants about how covariation affects portfolio risk but was reduced by making participants systematically calculate aggregate returns for diversified portfolios. In order to counteract naive diversification, novice investors need to be better informed about the rationale underlying recommendations to diversify.

In European countries, field studies investigate how citizens acquire knowledge of the new currency, the euro. In 3 laboratory experiments, the authors recruited 168 undergraduates to examine whether such accurate knowledge is acquired from learning prices in the new currency. The results show fast learning of prices of duration of cellular phone calls (quantity) when the prices were proportional to quantity. Inferences of call duration from given prices were likewise found to be accurate. Lower accuracy was however observed for one-to-many mappings of quantity on price and the inverse one-to-many mappings of price on quantity. Price variation may be an important reason for the difficulty in learning the value of the new currency observed in field studies.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00583.x Byline: Lars-Olof Johansson (*), Daniel Eek (*), Tuomo Caprali (*), Tommy Garling (*) Abstract: In a survey questionnaire, 81 Swedish managers working in the private and public sectors were presented with scenarios in which a manager chose among inefficient (i.e., economically worse) alternatives, implying equal rewards to subordinates; and efficient (i.e., economically better) alternatives, implying unequal rewards. The managers also rated 26 different emotion words, describing their responses to the inequality of rewards in the scenarios. The results showed stronger outward-directed and inward-directed negative emotions, and weaker inward-directed positive emotions when the inequality of rewards increased. Furthermore, negative emotions were found to mediate the choices among efficient and inefficient alternatives. Author Affiliation: (*)Goteborg UniversityGoteborg, Sweden Article note: (2) Lars-Olof Johansson, Department of Psychology, Goteborg University, Box 500, 40530 Goteborg, Sweden. E-mail: lars-olof.johansson@psy.gu.se

Knowledge and confidence in one's own knowledge of climate change was investigated among experts, journalists, politicians, and laypersons. Subsamples of 65 experts, 72 environmental journalists, 145 politicians being chairs of environmental committees, and 621 laypersons in Sweden responded to survey questions concerning current climate state, causes, and consequences of climate change. Experts presented the highest level of knowledge, followed by journalists, politicians, and laypersons. In all the groups, knowledge of causes was greater than that of climate state and of future consequences, and among the latter knowledge was less of health consequences than that of weather and sea/glacier consequences. Also, experts expressed the highest level of confidence in their own knowledge, followed by journalists, politicians, and laypersons. Nevertheless, the adjustment of confidence in one's own knowledge to actual knowledge was somewhat higher among journalists than among experts. Keywords: knowledge of climate change; confidence in knowledge

Three experiments were conducted on 247 students of Goteborg University to study the factor of money illusion in financial decision-making. The effects of nominal variables on the students' expectations of stock price shifts and on their trading decisions were studied.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2006.01.007 Byline: Lars-Olof Johansson, Mathias Gustafsson, Lars Olsson, Tommy Garling Keywords: Allocation decisions; Third-party fairness; Self-interest; Efficient resource use; Social dilemma; Goal conflicts Abstract: In two experiments participants allocated a resource between themselves, one privileged, and one unprivileged group. Conflicts were induced between 'third-party fairness' (difference in payoff to the two groups) and efficient resource use. Experiment 1 employed 42 undergraduates making multi-stage allocation decisions. Fairness was varied at three levels and self-interest, operationalized as the political motive of win votes, at two levels. Adverse effects of fairness on preserving the resource were found. In Experiment 2 another 48 undergraduates performed a similar task. Self-interest was now operationalized as a financial motive. The results showed that participants reduced their resource use when neither fairness nor self-interest was salient. A regression analysis demonstrated consistent adverse effects of fairness on resource use controlling for efficient resource use and total group payoff. It was concluded that fairness causes decision makers to overuse resources, although they are unwilling to totally deplete a resource and will make compromises. Author Affiliation: Goteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden Article History: Received 6 July 2005; Revised 15 December 2005; Accepted 9 January 2006

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2006.04.002 Byline: Ted Martin Hedesstrom, Henrik Svedsater, Tommy Garling Keywords: Premium pension; Heuristic choice rules; Internet-based survey Abstract: The results of previous analyses of citizens' actual choices of mutual funds in the Swedish compulsory public pension system were replicated in an Internet-based survey of fictitious choices among fund categories. The sample consisted of 392 university employees. Findings indicated a possible default bias, the use of a diversification heuristic, a home bias, and the use of a 1/n heuristic. Involvement in the fund choice, measured by self-rating scales, increased with the amount to invest but decreased with age. Involvement decreased the likelihood of choosing the default fund and was positively correlated with the number of funds included in a portfolio. Home bias and the use of a 1/n heuristic was however unaffected by involvement and by having previous stock market investment experience. Efforts to better inform investors about how to diversify are warranted. Author Affiliation: Goteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden Article History: Received 8 July 2005; Revised 6 April 2006; Accepted 27 April 2006

Social-dilemma research has shown that imposing sanctions on defection may increase cooperation, a principle behind attempts to solve real-world social dilemmas. Yet sanctioning systems are often difficult to implement: They are unpopular and often have large surveillance and enforcement costs. A new sanctioning system, intentionally punishing defection intermittently for some but not all group members, is shown to increase cooperation among those not punished, a finding labeled the spillover effect. This study suggests that the effect cannot be attributed simply to cooperative tendencies, as factors affecting cooperation do not affect the effect's size. The benefits of such a sanctioning system, which preserves the characteristics of social dilemmas, could include minimization of surveillance and enforcement costs, and greater public acceptability.

The present study investigates how households' social comparisons of their economic situation affect purchase decisions. In structured telephone interviews, participants (n = 109) answered questions about purchases of durable goods and groceries. In line with the hypothesis, social comparisons had an effect on purchase decisions of durable goods when controlling for actual economic situation. Households that considered themselves to be worse off economically than others reported fewer purchases of durable goods, perceived the impact on their economy of their latest purchase to be greater, and planned purchases more carefully than did households that considered themselves better off economically than others. Also in line with the hypothesis, for purchases of groceries, households' actual economic situation was more important than social comparisons.

The impact of household's economic situation on household consumption, aspiration level and social comparison is examined from the results of household survey of metropolitan area in Sweden.

The effect of framing and priming on willingness to pay for non use value is examined in two Swedish studies. In first study, the expected contribution was more than or a less than a valuable service. In the other study, respondents recalled buying something worthy or unworthy of the money spent.

Byline: Henrik Kristensen (1,2), Tommy Garling (1) Keywords: negotiation; price; anchor point; reference point Abstract: Based on the theoretical assumptions that counteroffers are generated through an anchoring-and-adjustment process and that offers are perceived as gains or losses relative to a reference point, predictions were made of how, in a price negotiation, the size of counteroffers vary with proposed selling prices and reservation prices. The predictions were confirmed in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 64 undergraduate students of business administration playing the role of buyers of condominiums were presented proposed selling prices and asked to give a counteroffer which a hypothetical seller would accept or reject. A reference point was induced by telling subjects their reservation price. Before giving a counteroffer subjects were asked to indicate whether it was higher or lower than an arbitrary anchor point. In four different groups of subjects, high vs. low reference point was crossed with high vs. low anchor point. The results showed as expected that the counteroffers were higher for a high than for a low anchor point, and higher for a high reference point when the anchor point was perceived as a gain than for a low reference point when the anchor point was perceived as a loss. In Experiment 2 in which another 48 undergraduate students of business administration participated, the anchor points were the proposed selling prices and the reference point (reservation price) was manipulated by providing estimates of the market price. The results were as predicted, thus suggesting that the proposed selling prices operated as anchor points and that the estimated market prices affected the reservation prices (reference points) so that the selling prices and estimated market prices jointly affected the counteroffers. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Psychology, Goteborg University, Sweden (2) Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Sweden Article History: Registration Date: 09/10/2004

Byline: Moshe Ben-Akiva (1), Daniel McFadden (2), Tommy Garling (3), Dinesh Gopinath (4), Joan Walker (5), Denis Bolduc (6), Axel Borsch-Supan (7), Philippe Delquie (8), Oleg Larichev (9), Taka Morikawa (10), Amalia Polydoropoulou (11), Vithala Rao (12) Keywords: Rationality; behavioral decision theory; psychological factors; latent constructs; choice modeling Abstract: We review the case against the standard model of rational behavior and discuss the consequences of various 'anomalies' of preference elicitation. A general theoretical framework that attempts to disentangle the various psychological elements in the decision-making process is presented. We then present a rigorous and general methodology to model the theoretical framework, explicitly incorporating psychological factors and their influences on choices. This theme has long been deemed necessary by behavioral researchers, but is often ignored in demand models. The methodology requires the estimation of an integrated multi-equation model consisting of a discrete choice model and the latent variable model system. We conclude with a research agenda to bring the theoretical framework into fruition. Author Affiliation: (1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (2) University of California, Berkeley (3) Goteborg University, Sweden (4) Mercer Management Consulting, USA (5) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (6) Universite Laval, Canada (7) Universitat Mannheim, Germany (8) Insead (9) Academy of Sciences, Moscow (10) Nagoya University, Japan (11) University of the Aegean, Greece (12) Cornell University, USA Article History: Registration Date: 14/10/2004

Several models of household saving behavior have been proposed during this century (e.g., Becker, 1976; Friedman, 1957; Keynes, 1936). As was discussed by Winner and Lewis (1995), one of the [...]

The aim of our study was to investigate whether and how different vacation choices vary with respect to a number of attributes and whether there are differences in this respect depending on how familiar the tourist is with the destination. In a web-based survey conducted in the fall of 2007, 681 Swedish residents (response rate 15%) retrospectively reported their vacation trips during the summer. The results warrant the conclusion that it is possible to rank choices of destination, departure date, primary activity, and travel mode according to primacy, importance, inflexibility, and impact on other choices. However, the different measures did not converge in identifying an invariant order of the choices. Individual and situational factors may play important roles for the order. A sequential decision-making process was still identified for the majority of the respondents and the examined choices were to a large extent made before departure. Familiarity with the destination only had an effect on the importance and inflexibility the respondents experienced in their destination choice. Both managerial and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Returns of equities tend to exhibit momentum in the short to medium term and reversals in the longer term. While presenting results partly supporting such findings, we demonstrate that investors rely on multiple reference points in their trading behaviour. In particular it is shown that the interaction between long- and short-run returns may have important explanatory value for investment decisions. Predictions of future stock prices furthermore tend to be positively biased when evaluated against trading patterns, while loss aversion may drive investors to sometimes act against their beliefs about market sentiments. Implications for market responses to price movements are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affective reactions to the interior aircraft environment are a basic constituent of perceived ride quality. This study addresses affective reactions to combinations of interior aircraft sound and vibration. In agreement with findings from environmental psychology, it was found that the combinations of six interior aircraft sounds and vibrations (no vibration, 16 Hz, and 95 Hz) gave rise to affective reactions described by two dimension s: valence (unpleasantness-pleasantness) and activation (activated-deactivated). Moreover, preferences for the affective reactions induced by the sound-vibration combinations were related to both of the affect dimensions. Taken together, these findings suggests that (a) different combinations of sound and vibration induce different affective state and (b) by measuring preference in addition to affective reactions, ride quality optimization may be facilitated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shows the anchoring induced biases in consumer price negotiations. Reservation price concept using the bargaining-zone model; Effects of the anchor and the seller's initial offer in the mean reservation price; Determinants of a buyer's reservation price and first counteroffer in a price negotiation.

Psychological science has the potential to contribute to international diplomacy, and thereby indirectly to the prevention of conflicts between and within states that may escalate to wars. In this introduction of the Special Issue on Diplomacy and Psychology, different varieties of diplomacy are first briefly introduced. Then follows an enumeration of areas of psychological research that show the greatest promise of being directly or indirectly relevant to diplomacy. These research areas include judgement and decision making in negotiations and social dilemmas, social justice, intergroup conflicts, and intercultural processes. An additional area is research on environmental policy making, whose important role needs to be better recognized in international diplomacy. Overviews are also given of the articles included in the Special Issue. La psychologie scientifique peut apporter une contribution a la diplomatie internationale et prevenir ainsi indirectement les conflits a l'interieur et entre les etats qui pourraient degenerer en guerres. Cette introduction au numero special consacre a diplomatie et psychologie expose brievement les differents types de diplomatie. Puis, elle enumere les domaines dans lesquels la recherche en psychologie est la plus prometteuse pour la diplomatie. Ces domaines de recherche comprennent le jugement et al prise de decision dans les negociations et les conflits sociaux, la justice sociale, les conflits entre groupes et les processus interculturels. Un autre domaine est la recherche sur la politique environnementale dont l'importance doit etre mieux reconnue en diplomatie internationale. Cette introduction fournit aussi un apercu des articles qui composent ce numero special. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sequences of numbers representing prior resource size were presented to participants in a common-pool resource dilemma. The numbers were sampled from uniform probability distributions with either a low variance (low resource uncertainty) or a high variance (high resource uncertainty). Presentations were both sequential and simultaneous. Three groups of 16 undergraduates either estimated the size of the resource when it did not represent value to them; requested an amount from the resource, identified with a sum of money, when the outcome of the requests only depended on resource size; or requested from the resource (sum of money) when the outcome of the requests depended on both resource size and how much others in a group requested. In support of an individual outcome-desirability bias due to selective recall of the number sequences, after sequential presentation larger requests were observed when resource uncertainty was high than when it was low. No effects of resource uncertainty or presentation were found on the estimates of resource size. Whether or not the outcome of the requests depended on others' requests made little difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on preference reversals has demonstrated a disproportionate influence of outcome probability on choices between monetary gambles. The aim was to investigate the hypothesis that this is a prominence effect originally demonstrated for riskless choice. Another aim was to test the structure compatibility hypothesis as an explanation of the effect. The hypothesis implies that probability should be the prominent attribute when compared with value attributes both in a choice and a preference rating procedure. In Experiment 1, two groups of undergraduates were presented with medical treatments described by two value attributes (effectiveness and pain-relief). All participants performed both a matching task and made preference ratings. In the latter task, outcome probabilities were added to the descriptions of the medical treatments for one of the groups. In line with the hypothesis, this reduced the prominence effect on the preference ratings observed for effectiveness. In Experiment 2, a matching task was used to demonstrate that probability was considered more important by a group of participating undergraduates than the value attributes. Furthermore, in both choices and preference ratings the expected prominence effect was found for probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports the development of a short and easily administered questionnaire aimed at measuring dimensions of social life within neighborhoods. Interpretation of the concepts of supportive acts of neighboring, neighbor annoyance, neighborhood attachment and weak social ties; Factor invariance and factor replicability; Consistency and reliability of measures.

Research on psychological restoration and restorative environments is a needed complement to work on stress and environmental stressors. Two laboratory experiments tested the utility of two restorative environments theories, one concerned with directed attention capacity renewal and the other with stress reduction and associated changes in emotion. Various strategies were employed to distinguish restorative effects from other effects, to limit the role of arousal reduction in attentional restoration, and to begin mapping the time course for the emergence of outcomes. Both experiments tested for differential emotional and performance effects as a function of photographic environmental simulation (natural or urban environment). Across the experiments the natural environment simulation engendered generally more positive emotional self-reports. That consistent performance effects were not found in either study suggests that attentional restoration as reflected in performance is a more time-intensive process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a prominent attribute looms larger in one response procedure than in another, a violation of procedure invariance occurs. A hypothesis based on compatibility between the structure of the input information and the required output was tested as an explanation of this phenomenon. It was also compared with other existing hypotheses in the field. The study had two aims: (1) to illustrate the prominence effect in a selection of preference tasks (choice, acceptance decisions, and preference ratings); (2) to demonstrate the processing differences in a matching procedure versus the selected preference tasks. Hence, verbal protocols were collected in both a matching task and in subsequent preference tasks. Silent control conditions were also employed. The structure compatibility hypothesis was confirmed in that a prominence effect obtained in the preference tasks was accompanied by a lower degree of attention to the attribute levels in these tasks. Furthermore, as predicted from the structure compatibility hypothesis, it was found that fewer comparisons between attribute levels were performed in the preference tasks than in the matching task. It was therefore concluded that both these processing differences may explain the occurrence of the prominence effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the role of consumers' belief-value structures in residential preferences and choices. Effect of attainment of life values on the consumers' behavior for housing alternatives; Influence of consumers' attitudes on the preference and choices.

Examines whether risk seeking increases among bettors at the race track when losses accumulate. Experiment involving 12 male and 20 female undergraduates who were sensitized to prior outcomes; Decline in risk seeking at the end of a betting sequence.