Fuzzy-Trace Theory and Framing Effects in Children's Risky Decision Making

Traditional theories of cognitive development predict that children progress from intuitive to computational thinking, whereas fuzzy-trace theory makes the opposite prediction To evaluate these alternatives, framing problems were administered to preschoolers, second graders, and fifth graders Consistent with fuzzy-trace theory, results indicated (a) that younger children focused on quantitative differences between outcomes and did not exhibit framing effects (risk avoidance for gains, risk seeking for losses) and (b) that older children assimilated these quantitative differences and displayed framing effects

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How fuzzy-trace theory predicts development of risky decision making, with novel extensions to culture and reward sensitivity

Developmental Review ◽

10.1016/j.dr.2021.100986 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 62 ◽

pp. 100986

Author(s):

Sarah M. Edelson ◽

Valerie F. Reyna

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Reward Sensitivity ◽

Risky Decision Making ◽

Risky Decision ◽

Trace Theory ◽

Fuzzy Trace Theory

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Development of Risky Decision Making: Fuzzy-Trace Theory and Neurobiological Perspectives

Child Development Perspectives ◽

10.1111/cdep.12117 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 122-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Valerie F. Reyna ◽

Evan A. Wilhelms ◽

Michael J. McCormick ◽

Rebecca B. Weldon

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Risky Decision Making ◽

Risky Decision ◽

Trace Theory ◽

Fuzzy Trace Theory

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Abstraction: An alternative neurocognitive account of recognition, prediction, and decision making

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19003017 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Valerie F. Reyna ◽

David A. Broniatowski

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Software Engineering ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Trace Theory ◽

Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽

Abstract Representations ◽

Technical Systems

Abstract Gilead et al. offer a thoughtful and much-needed treatment of abstraction. However, it fails to build on an extensive literature on abstraction, representational diversity, neurocognition, and psychopathology that provides important constraints and alternative evidence-based conceptions. We draw on conceptions in software engineering, socio-technical systems engineering, and a neurocognitive theory with abstract representations of gist at its core, fuzzy-trace theory.

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The effects of optimism on self-framing and risky decision making

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.9409 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 48 (10) ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Ran Zhang ◽

Luming Zhao ◽

Lin Wu ◽

Hongxu Chen ◽

Gaoxing Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Framing Effect ◽

Risky Decision Making ◽

Risky Decision ◽

Life Orientation Test ◽

Life Orientation ◽

Risk Seeking ◽

Behavioral Decision Making ◽

Behavioral Decision ◽

Orientation Test

The framing effect is a key topic that has been insufficiently studied in research on behavioral decision making. In our study we explored the effects of optimism on self-framing and risky decision making. Participants were 416 undergraduates who responded to the Life Orientation Test and a self-framing test based on the Asian disease problem. The results demonstrate that, compared with people low in optimism, highly optimistic individuals tended to use more positive words to describe problems, generate more positive frames, and choose more risky options. There was also a significant self-framing effect: Participants with a negative frame tended to be risk-seeking, whereas those with a positive frame tended to avoid risks. Additionally, selfframing suppressed the effect of optimism on risky decision making. We can conclude that optimism has significant effects on self-framing and risky decision making.

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Framing Effects and Fuzzy Traces: ‘Some’ Observations

Review of Philosophy and Psychology ◽

10.1007/s13164-021-00556-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah A. Fisher

Keyword(s):

Framing Effects ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Core Element ◽

Alternative Interventions ◽

Trace Theory ◽

Fuzzy Trace Theory ◽

The Core ◽

Making Sense ◽

Lower Bounding ◽

Central Claim

AbstractFraming effects occur when people respond differently to the same information, just because it is conveyed in different words. For example, in the classic ‘Disease Problem’ introduced by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, people’s choices between alternative interventions depend on whether these are described positively, in terms of the number of people who will be saved, or negatively in terms of the corresponding number who will die. In this paper, I discuss an account of framing effects based on ‘fuzzy-trace theory’. The central claim of this account is that people represent the numbers in framing problems in a ‘gist-like’ way, as ‘some’; and that this creates a categorical contrast between ‘some’ people being saved (or dying) and ‘no’ people being saved (or dying). I argue that fuzzy-trace theory’s gist-like representation, ‘some’, must have the semantics of ‘some and possibly all’, not ‘some but not all’. I show how this commits fuzzy-trace theory to a modest version of a rival ‘lower bounding hypothesis’, according to which lower-bounded interpretations of quantities contribute to framing effects by rendering the alternative descriptions extensionally inequivalent. As a result, fuzzy-trace theory is incoherent as it stands. Making sense of it requires dropping, or refining, the claim that decision-makers perceive alternatively framed options as extensionally equivalent; and the related claim that framing effects are irrational. I end by suggesting that, whereas the modest lower bounding hypothesis is well supported, there is currently less evidence for the core element of the fuzzy trace account.

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Sensitivity to gains during risky decision-making differentiates chronic cocaine users from stimulant-naïve controls

10.1101/795443 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

B. Kluwe-Schiavon ◽

A. Kexel ◽

G. Manenti ◽

D.M. Cole ◽

M.R. Baumgartner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Neuropsychological Test ◽

Risky Decision Making ◽

Risky Decision ◽

Cocaine Use ◽

Risk Seeking ◽

Chronic Cocaine ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Cocaine Users ◽

The Individual

AbstractBackgroundAlthough chronic cocaine use has been frequently associated with decision-making impairments that are supposed to contribute to the development and maintenance of cocaine addiction, it has remained unclear how risk-seeking behaviours observed in chronic cocaine users (CU) come about. Here we therefore test whether risky decision-making observed in CU is driven by alterations in individual sensitivity to the available information (gain, loss, and risk).MethodA sample of 96 participants (56 CU and 40 controls) performed the no-feedback (“cold”) version of the Columbia Card Task. Structured psychiatric interviews and a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery were additionally conducted. Current and recent substance use was objectively assessed by toxicological urine and hair analysis.ResultsCompared to controls, CU showed increased risk-seeking in unfavourable decision scenarios in which the risk was high and the returns were low, and a tendency for increased risk aversion in favourable decision scenarios. These differences arose from the fact that CU were less sensitive to gain, but similarly sensitive to loss and risk information in comparison to controls. Further analysis revealed that individual differences in sensitivity to loss and risk were related to cognitive performance and impulsivity.ConclusionThe reduced sensitivity to gain information in people with CU may contribute to their propensity for making risky decisions. While these alterations in the sensitivity to gain might be directly related to cocaine use per se, the individual psychopathological profile of CU might moderate their sensitivity to risk and loss impulsivity.

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