Contents: Preface. Introduction. Basic Assumptions. Binary Gambles of Gains. Joint Receipt of Gains. General Gambles of Gains. Additive Utility Over Mixed Consequences. Additive Value Over Mixed Consequences. Concluding Comments. Appendices: Summary of Notations. Basic Behavioral Assumptions. PEST Procedure. Additive Conjoint Measurement. Major Definitions.
"Luce's direct and outspoken way of criticizing other works,
without wasting time and paper on ineffectient diplomacy, is
refreshing and stimulating. He often gives balanced descriptions of
arguments counter to his own viewpoints....This book for the first
time permits a study, from scratch, of Luce's fascinating paradigm
for decision under uncertainty....This book has delivered
mathematical psychology at its best. It will be a continuing source
of inspiration for the next generation of reseachers in this
area."
—Journal of Mathematical Psychology"Luce gives a balanced account
of the empirical literature, paying ample attention to studies and
arguments that disagree with his own viewpoints. The wealth of
studies discussed here makes the book a very useful
reference....The book is mathematically rigorous, gives an
extensive overview of the empirical literature, and is likely to
serve as a source of inspiration for future research."
—Journal of Economic Literature"This is a tremendous book that
integrates Luce's very important recent theoretical and empirical
research on choice under uncertainty with the work of other
researchers. Beginning a decade ago, Luce began building a very
sophisticated theoretical structure that integrates utility theory
with the concept of 'joint receipt,' which essentially corresponds
to the intuitive idea of receiving two valued items at the same
time. In a series of works, culminating in this book, Luce has
shown that reasonable properties of this superficially simple
concept, in conjunction with somewhat more standard utility ideas,
lead to exciting new theories of choice under uncertainty.
Importantly, Luce not only develops these revolutionary theoretical
ideas, but he tests them with students and colleagues. Anyone
wanting to know about contemporary utility theories that are both
theoretically and empirically grounded must read this book, as must
anyone who will enjoy sharing the obvious delight in his work of an
outstanding practitioner of the mathematical behavioral
sciences."
—A.A.J. Marley
McGill University"I believe this book will be a classic in decision
making under uncertainty. Dr. Luce introduces a new paradigm for
individual decision making under uncertainty that is an alternative
to the well-known Savage paradigm. Its main features--repeatable
events and conditional acts--often lead to more tractable models.
This book shows the richness of results that can be derived within
this new paradigm, which allows for event splitting effects and
violations of accounting equations--the importance of which the
field has only recently come to understand."
—Peter Wakker
Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands"Luce provides a penetrating
analysis of the axioms underlying human choice theory and a
thorough review of the evidence. Most importantly, he illustrates
the process of decomposing theories into testable properties that
become the building blocks for better theories. His relentless
desire to reformulate theories in response to evidence is what
makes this an extraordinary book by an extraordinary
scientist."
—Barbara Mellers
Ohio State University
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