PREDICTING UNIQUE BEHAVIORAL CHOICES - DIRECT NUMERIC ESTIMATION OF REWARDS AND COSTS AND THE SATISFACTION-BALANCE DECISION-MODEL

Previous studies of decision making have focused on repetitive choices in simple situations. One model of such behaviors is the satisfaction -balance model. Recently Judson and Duran-Aydintug developed a psychop hysical measurement model as an extension of the satisfaction-balance model and applied it to one-shot choices. This study extends that proj ect by attempting to predict a single, unique behavioral choice. We us e a survey measurement method identical to the earlier method, but pre dict a behavior of direct relevance to the subjects. Thus we extend ea rlier work into the behavioral dimension and show its relevance for fi eldwork outside the laboratory. The results strongly support the appli cability of the satisfaction-balance model in situations of nonrepetit ive behavioral choice, with the use of direct numeric estimation.