Математико-психологически подход към функциите на полезност при икономически агенти.

Abstract

We briefly review the state-of-the-art in decision studies and suggest that a promising way forward is offered by the mathematical theory of Pavlovian conditioning (Grossberg & Schmajuk, 1987) and by its subset, Affective Balance Theory (Grossberg & Gutowski, 1987). We present a part of a successful laboratory experiment (Mengov, Egbert, Pulov, & Georgiev, 2008), which shows one way of implementing those theories into the analysis of consumer behaviour. Our main result is a statistically significant finding about the intensity of people’s emotional reactions to gains and losses. Alluding to the market of cell phone services, in our experiment we observed greater excitement for financial discounts than for surplus charges. At first sight anomalous from the standpoint of Prospect Theory, this result comfortably fits into one of its predictions. Essentially, we have found an example of a reference point shift, which results in greater steepness of the utility curve for gains than for losses. In our case it was caused by the participants’ previous market experience, brought by them implicitly into the experiment.