Accession Number:

ADA048600

Title:

New and Old Biases in Subjective Probability Distributions: Do They Exist and are They Affected by Elicitation Procedures.

Descriptive Note:

Technical rept.,

Corporate Author:

DECISIONS AND DESIGNS INC MCLEAN VA

Personal Author(s):

• Fujii,Tsuneko
• Seaver,David A.
• Edwards,Ward

Report Date:

1977-08-01

Pagination or Media Count:

36.0

Abstract:

Past research indicates that people exhibit biases in assessing probability distributions on continuous variables. Three types of biases have been identified too many true values falling into the extreme tails of the distributions, a displacement toward 50 for distributions assessed on percentages, and a general tendency to underestimate. This study explored the nature of these biases with particular emphasis on how they interact and how they are affected by the procedure used to elicit the distributions.

Descriptors:

• *DECISION MAKING
• *PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
• *JUDGEMENT(PSYCHOLOGY)
• *SELECTION
• PERFORMANCE(HUMAN)
• STATISTICAL TESTS
• ESTIMATES
• ERROR ANALYSIS
• DATA REDUCTION
• CALIBRATION
• BIAS
• QUESTIONNAIRES

Subject Categories:

• Psychology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE