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Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making

The degree of certainty that decision-makers have about their evaluations of available choice alternatives and their confidence about selecting the subjectively best alternative are important factors that affect current and future value-based choices. Assessments of the alternatives in a given choic...

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Autores principales: Lee, Douglas G., Hare, Todd A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10390628/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36631708
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13415-022-01054-4
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author Lee, Douglas G.
Hare, Todd A.
author_facet Lee, Douglas G.
Hare, Todd A.
author_sort Lee, Douglas G.
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description The degree of certainty that decision-makers have about their evaluations of available choice alternatives and their confidence about selecting the subjectively best alternative are important factors that affect current and future value-based choices. Assessments of the alternatives in a given choice set are rarely unidimensional; their values are usually derived from a combination of multiple distinct attributes. For example, the taste, texture, quantity, and nutritional content of a snack food may all be considered when determining whether to consume it. We examined how certainty about the levels of individual attributes of an option relates to certainty about the overall value of that option as a whole and/or to confidence in having chosen the subjectively best available option. We found that certainty and confidence are derived from unequally weighted combinations of attribute certainties rather than simple, equal combinations of all sources of uncertainty. Attributes that matter more in determining choice outcomes also are weighted more in metacognitive evaluations of certainty or confidence. Moreover, we found that the process of deciding between two alternatives leads to refinements in both attribute estimations and the degree of certainty in those estimates. Attributes that are more important in determining choice outcomes are refined more during the decision process in terms of both estimates and certainty. Although certainty and confidence are typically treated as unidimensional, our results indicate that they, like value estimates, are subjective, multidimensional constructs. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13415-022-01054-4.
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spelling pubmed-103906282023-08-02 Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making Lee, Douglas G. Hare, Todd A. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci Special Issue/Uncertainty The degree of certainty that decision-makers have about their evaluations of available choice alternatives and their confidence about selecting the subjectively best alternative are important factors that affect current and future value-based choices. Assessments of the alternatives in a given choice set are rarely unidimensional; their values are usually derived from a combination of multiple distinct attributes. For example, the taste, texture, quantity, and nutritional content of a snack food may all be considered when determining whether to consume it. We examined how certainty about the levels of individual attributes of an option relates to certainty about the overall value of that option as a whole and/or to confidence in having chosen the subjectively best available option. We found that certainty and confidence are derived from unequally weighted combinations of attribute certainties rather than simple, equal combinations of all sources of uncertainty. Attributes that matter more in determining choice outcomes also are weighted more in metacognitive evaluations of certainty or confidence. Moreover, we found that the process of deciding between two alternatives leads to refinements in both attribute estimations and the degree of certainty in those estimates. Attributes that are more important in determining choice outcomes are refined more during the decision process in terms of both estimates and certainty. Although certainty and confidence are typically treated as unidimensional, our results indicate that they, like value estimates, are subjective, multidimensional constructs. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13415-022-01054-4. Springer US 2023-01-11 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10390628/ /pubmed/36631708 http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13415-022-01054-4 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Special Issue/Uncertainty
Lee, Douglas G.
Hare, Todd A.
Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
title Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
title_full Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
title_fullStr Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
title_full_unstemmed Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
title_short Value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
title_sort value certainty and choice confidence are multidimensional constructs that guide decision-making
topic Special Issue/Uncertainty
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10390628/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36631708
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13415-022-01054-4
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