Some Conditions Affecting the Utility of Subjectively Weighted Models in Decision Making
The accuracy of multiple regression models, models employing subjective weights and models employing relative subjective weights in reproducing judgments was studied. Multiple regression models were most accurate. When subjects were divided into two groups according to the degree of configurality shown in their matrix of subjective weights, striking differences were found in the degree of overlap of the multiple regression models and the models employing subjective weights. In particular, when subjective policies were essentially linear, the predicted judgments produced by these policies were highly correlated with the predicted judgments of the multiple regression models. When subjective policies were highly configural, the subjective models accounted for variance in judgments not accounted for by the linear multiple regression model.