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On the nature of certainty in value-based evaluations: disentangling variability and extremity of experiences

delete2026-03-25
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PRE
AI
T
Tan, Bastiaan *
R
Raghoebar, Sanne
Q
Quandt, Julian
DOI:10.1098/rsos.251616delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Consistent value-based decision-making is crucial for outcomes such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle or being perceived as trustworthy. The certainty of evaluations of choice options is related to the consistency of value-based decisions, but its nature is poorly understood. Here, we examined how evaluation certainty is formed through the possibly unique contributions of 'variability' and 'value-extremity' of prior experiences with objects. We conducted a preregistered 2 & times; 2 within-subject experiment (n = 188) where variability and value-extremity of experiences with objects were manipulated independently. Participants learned value-distributions for objects, estimated their mean value and rated certainty in their evaluation. As predicted, results show that variability of experiences is negatively related to certainty, independent of value-extremity. Surprisingly, we find no evidence for a positive effect of value-extremity on evaluation certainty. These results point to the possibility that the previously observed relationship between value-extremity and evaluation certainty is the result of an ecological confound between variability and value-extremity of prior experiences.
Keywords:
evaluation confidence
value-based decisions
value-extremity
value-distributions

Journal

Royal Society Open Science cover
Royal Society Open Science
IF:
2.9
Papers:
775
Citations:
1.8W

Organization

W
Wageningen University & Research
Scholars:
2.9W
Papers: 2.8W
Citations: 55
V
vienna university of economics & business
Scholars:
1.1K
Papers: 1.4K
Citations: 2
E
Eindhoven University of Technology
Scholars:
1.6W
Papers: 1.5W
Citations: 2.2W
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