BACK TO BENTHAM - EXPLORATIONS OF EXPERIENCED UTILITY

Two core meanings of ''utility'' are distinguished. ''Decision utility '' is the weight of an outcome in a decision. ''Experienced utility'' is hedonic quality, as in Bentham's usage. Experienced utility can be reported in real time (instant utility), or in retrospective evaluatio ns of past episodes (remembered utility). Psychological research has d ocumented systematic errors in retrospective evaluations, which can in duce a preference for dominated options. We propose a formal normative theory of the total experienced utility of temporally extended outcom es. Measuring the experienced utility of outcomes permits tests of uti lity maximization and opens other lines of empirical research.