Silberberg, A., Murray, P., Christensen, J., & Asano, T. (1988).
Choice in the repeated-gambles experiment.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
50, 187-195.
Humans chose 10 times between two roulette wheels projected on a
monitor. During the first trial the left wheel provided a
hypothetical $100 with p =.94, and the right wheel
provided $250 with p = .39. A titration procedure adjusted
the probability of a $250 win across trials to permit
estimation of an indifference point between alternatives. In
Experiment 1, intertrial-interval duration (25 vs. 90 s) and
whether sessions began with an intertrial interval or a trial
were varied in a 2x2 design in this risky-choice procedure. Risk
aversion (preference for the $100 wheel) increased with
intertrial interval but was unaffected by whether sessions began
with a trial or an intertrial interval. In Experiment 2, all
sessions began with a trial, and subjects were informed that the
experiment ended after 10 trials. Intertrial-interval duration
had no effect on choice. In Experiment 3, intertrial-interval
duration and whether subjects were given $10 or $10,000 before
beginning were varied among four groups in a 2x2 design. In all
other ways, the procedure was unchanged from Experiment 2.
Intertrial interval had no effect on choice, but the $10,000
groups showed less risk aversion than the $10 groups. These
results can be explained more readily in terms of Kahneman and
Tversky's (1984) notion of "framing of the
prospect" than in terms of Rachlin, Logue, Gibbon, and
Frankel's (1986) behavioral account of risky choice.
[Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. Choices, values, and frames.
American Psychologist, 1984, 39, 341-350;
Rachlin, H., Logue, A.W., Gibbon, J., & Frankel, M. Cognition
and behavior in studies of choice. Psychological Review, 19