Experience Theory, or How Desserts Are Like Losses

Jolie M. Martin; Martin  Reimann; Michael I. Norton

Article | Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Experience Theory, or How Desserts Are Like Losses

by Jolie M. Martin, Martin Reimann and Michael I. Norton

Abstract

While many experiments have explored risk preferences for money, few have systematically assessed risk preferences for everyday experiences. We propose a conceptual model and provide convergent evidence from seven experiments that, in contrast to a typical “zero” reference point for monetary gambles, reference points for experiences that are set at more extreme outcomes, leading to concave utility for negative experiences but convex utility for positive experiences. As a result, people are more risk-averse towards negative experiences, such as eating disgusting foods—as for monetary gains—but more risk-seeking towards positive experiences, such as eating desserts—as for monetary losses. These risk preferences for experiences are robust to different methods of elicitation.

Keywords: experiences; monetary gambles; risk preferences; experience theory; Risk and Uncertainty; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions;

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Citation:

Martin, Jolie M., Martin Reimann, and Michael I. Norton. "Experience Theory, or How Desserts Are Like Losses." Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 145, no. 11 (November 2016): 1460–1472.

Article | Journal of Consumer Psychology

The Feeling of Not Knowing It All

Haiyang Yang, Ziv Carmon, Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton

How do consumers assess their mastery of knowledge they have learned? We explore this question by investigating a common knowledge consumption situation: encountering opportunities for further learning. We argue and show that such opportunities can trigger a feeling-of-not-knowing-it-all (FONKIA), which lowers consumers’ confidence in their mastery of the knowledge they already possess. Specifically, listing optional follow-up readings at the conclusion of a course lowered students’ confidence in their mastery of the course material they had already learned (Study 1). Encountering an optional learning opportunity increased the FONKIA, which mediated the decreased confidence (Studies 2 and 3). We also document two moderators consistent with our conceptualization. First, participants primed with mastery (vs. instrumental) motivation were more negatively impacted when they encountered optional learning opportunities. Second, the more related the optional opportunities were to the target topic, the lower participants’ confidence in their mastery of what they had already learned. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings, such as encouraging further learning or harming teaching evaluations.

Keywords: Knowledge consumption; Consumption of learning; Judgment of knowledge; Feeling ofknowing; Confidence in knowledge; WYSIATI; FONKIA; Knowledge Acquisition; Learning; Perception;

Citation:

Yang, Haiyang, Ziv Carmon, Dan Ariely, and Michael I. Norton. "The Feeling of Not Knowing It All." Journal of Consumer Psychology 29, no. 3 (July 2019): 455–462. View Details

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Experience Theory, or How Desserts Are Like Losses

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