Case-Based Decision Theory.

This paper suggests that decision-making under uncertainty is, at least partly, case-based. The authors propose a model in which cases are primitive and provide a simple axiomatization of a decision rule that chooses a 'best' act based on its past performance in similar cases. Each act is evaluated by the sum of the utility levels that resulted from using this act in past cases, each weighted by the similarity of that past case to the problem at hand. The formal model of case-based decision theory naturally gives rise to the notions of satisficing decisions and aspiration levels. Copyright 1995, the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.