Expected Value in Psychological Models,

Six psychological theories, from three areas of psychology, are analyzed with respect to the essential characteristics of the basic normative model for behavior in decision theory, the maximization of expected value. Despite differences in interpretation and level of analysis, five of the theories are shown to be formally equivalent to expected value models that is they postulate that behavior is determined by two independent components corresponding to the probability that possible behaviors will have various outcomes, and the worth of these outcomes to the organism and the performed behavior will be the one with the maximum net average worth. The sixth theory is interpretable as a weighted additive utility model. Author