CeDEx workshop - Geoffrey Castillo (University of Nottingham)

Social preference reversals: testing a common account of choice under uncertainty, intertemporal choice and interpersonal choice

Abstract: Previous research suggest that choice under uncertainty, intertemporal choice and interpersonal choice might be linked, yet the risk, time and social dimensions are treated separately in traditional models. We propose a common account of those choices. We treat probabilities, delays and social distances as a common psychological distance. Self-control is a potential candidate by which this distance is mediated in choice. If this interpretation is correct, classical anomalies observed in the context of choice under uncertainty and intertemporal choice should also be observed in the context of interpersonal choice. We focus on the standard preference reversal and hunt its social analogue – hence the social preference reversal.