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Judgments of risk frequencies : tests of possible cognitive mechanisms

Hertwig, Ralph and Pachur, Thorsten and Kurzenhäuser, Stephanie. (2005) Judgments of risk frequencies : tests of possible cognitive mechanisms. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory and cognition, 31 (4). pp. 621-642.

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Abstract

How do people judge which of 2 risks claims more lives per year? The authors specified 4 candidate mechanisms and tested them against people's judgments in 3 risk environments. Two mechanisms, availability by recall and regressed frequency, conformed best to people's choices. The same mechanisms also accounted well for the mapping accuracy of estimates of absolute risk frequencies. Their nearly indistinguishable level of performance is remarkable given their different assumptions about the underlying cognitive processes and the fact that they give rise to different expectations regarding the accuracy of people's inferences. The authors discuss this seeming paradox, the lack of impact of financial incentives on judgmental accuracy, and the dominant interpretation of inaccurate inferences in terms of biased information processing.
Faculties and Departments:07 Faculty of Psychology > Departement Psychologie > Ehemalige Einheiten Psychologie > Cognitive and Decision Sciences (Hertwig)
UniBasel Contributors:Hertwig, Ralph and Pachur, Thorsten
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:American Psychological Association
ISSN:0096-1515
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Language:English
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Last Modified:10 Oct 2017 15:19
Deposited On:22 Mar 2012 13:43

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