HOPE - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF ATTITUDE TOWARD THE TIMING OF UNCERTAINTY RESOLUTION

Hope is experienced when there is enjoyment in delaying the resolution of uncertainty. The main objective of this article is to identify the phenomenon of hope. In addition, we empirically test several axiomati c theories of temporal preferences which have implications for attitud es toward the timing of uncertainty resolution. Overall, the data supp ort the extension of recursive expected utility specification to incor porate a weighted utility model of attitude toward future uncertainty. We find that the instances where hopefulness are more prevalent tend to be associated with a small probability of occurrence of a large gai n. Interestingly, the degree of hopefulness is not correlated with ris k attitude.