MANIPULATING ATTRACTIVENESS OF A GAMBLE WITHOUT CHANGING ITS EXPECTED VALUE

Examined the effects on the attractiveness of a gamble, of manipulating the number and structure of the independent events on which the gamble's outcomes were contingent, while holding the expected value constant. 3 manipulations were studied. The most effective was the situation where a gamble offering a payoff with probability equal to p was changed into a gamble whose payoff was contingent on the joint occurrence of 4 independent events. Although individual differences were substantial, the majority of Ss behaved as if the probability of the compound event was much greater than p, its true value. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.