Revealed Indifference: Using Response Times to Infer Preferences

Konovalov, A., & Krajbich, I. (2019) Revealed strength of preference: Inference from response times. Judgment and Decision Making, 14(4) 381-394

64 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2017 Last revised: 15 Mar 2021

See all articles by Arkady Konovalov

Arkady Konovalov

University of Birmingham

Ian Krajbich

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Psychology; Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Economics

Date Written: April 23, 2017

Abstract

Revealed preference is the dominant approach for inferring preferences, but it relies on discrete, stochastic choices. The choice process also produces response times (RTs) which are continuous and can often be observed in the absence of informative choice outcomes. Moreover, there is a consistent relationship between RTs and strength-of-preference, namely that people make slower decisions as they approach indifference. This relationship arises from optimal solutions to sequential information sampling problems. Here, we investigate ways in which this relationship can be used to infer preferences when choice outcomes are uninformative or unavailable. We show that RTs from a single choice problem can be enough to usefully rank people according to their preferences. Using a large number of choice problems, we are further able to recover individual utility-function parameters from RTs alone in three different choice domains. These results provide a proof of concept for a novel “method of revealed indifference”.

Keywords: Temporal Discounting, Response Times, Sequential Sampling Models, Drift-Diffusion Model, Experimental Methodology, Social Preference, Loss Aversion

JEL Classification: C91, D01, D03, D87, D81, D90

Suggested Citation

Konovalov, Arkady and Krajbich, Ian, Revealed Indifference: Using Response Times to Infer Preferences (April 23, 2017). Konovalov, A., & Krajbich, I. (2019) Revealed strength of preference: Inference from response times. Judgment and Decision Making, 14(4) 381-394 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3024233 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3024233

Arkady Konovalov (Contact Author)

University of Birmingham ( email )

Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
United Kingdom

Ian Krajbich

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Psychology ( email )

1835 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
United States

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Economics

Arps Hall
1945 N. High St.
Columbus, OH OH 43210
United States

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