The authors propose that attempts to increase consumers' objective knowledge (OK) regarding financial instruments can deter willingness to invest when such attempts diminish consumers' subjective knowledge (SK). In four studies, the authors use different SK manipulations and investment products...

In this paper we investigate the claim that decisions from experience (in which the features of lotteries are learned through a sampling process) differ from decisions from description (in which features of lotteries are explicitly described). We find that the experience-description gap is not...

According to prospect theory, people overweight low probability events and underweight high probability events. Several recent papers (notably, Hertwig, Barron, Weber & Erev, 2004) have argued that although this pattern holds for “description-based” decisions, in which people are explicitly...

According to construal level theory (CLT) [Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2003) Temporal construal. Physical Review, 110, 403-421], psychological representation of information depends on "psychological distance", that is, on whether the relevant information refers to the near or distant...

The current paper examines whether advisors rely primarily on their personal beliefs and risk preferences or on their estimates of their clients' beliefs and risk preferences. The results of two studies show that risk preferences predicted for other individuals were more risk neutral than...

People find it appealing to have more options to choose from, but the provision of choice often leads to adverse consequences for decision makers' motivation, satisfaction, and willingness to act. We propose that the effect of the number of choice options on willingness to purchase is moderated...