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Heuristics of Numerical Choice in Economic Contexts

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Blended Cognition

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Cognitive and Neural Systems ((SSCNS,volume 12))

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Abstract

Many problems in the psychology of judgment and decision making that employ heuristics involve preferences between two or more alternatives. Other problems involve estimation of numerical quantities. In this chapter we discuss the heuristics of problems that combine both of these processes, in that they involve decisions among different amounts of a particular item. We review several examples of these kinds of heuristics applied to economic contexts, such as decisions about how much of an item to buy from a supplier or to sell to consumers. Then we discuss models and theories that can explain the use of these heuristics in decision making. These theories are partly based on behavioral data in memory and decision making, and partly based on neural networks that incorporate the functions of specific brain regions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

    Kay-Yut Chen

  2. Psychology Department, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA

    Daniel S. Levine

Authors
  1. Kay-Yut Chen
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  2. Daniel S. Levine
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Correspondence to Daniel S. Levine .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain

    Jordi Vallverdú

  2. American College of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Vincent C. Müller

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Chen, KY., Levine, D.S. (2019). Heuristics of Numerical Choice in Economic Contexts. In: Vallverdú, J., Müller, V. (eds) Blended Cognition. Springer Series in Cognitive and Neural Systems, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03104-6_9

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