Behavioral and Brain Sciences



Open Peer Commentary

Models of preference reversals and personal rules: Do they require maximizing a utility function with a specific structure?


Horacio Arló-Costa a1
a1 Philosophy Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 hcosta@andrew.cmu.edu http://www.phil.cmu.edu/faculty/arlocosta/

Abstract

One of the reasons for adopting hyperbolic discounting is to explain preference reversals. Another is that this value structure suggests an elegant theory of the will. I examine the capacity of the theory to solve Newcomb's problem. In addition, I compare Ainslie's account with other procedural theories of choice that seem at least equally capable of accommodating reversals of preference.