Using an evolutionary approach to improve predictive ability in the social sciences
Property, the endowment effect, and law
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21651381 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sarah F Brosnan (0000-0002-5117-6706, Georgia State University, corresponding author), Owen D Jones (0000-0002-9649-1005, Vanderbilt University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 222-228 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Evolution and Human Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1090-5138 • E-ISSN: 1879-0607 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.01.001 |
| OpenAlex | W4319592845 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 43 |
From the perspective of other disciplines, evolutionary approaches more often provide explanation and coherence than they help to solve discrete problems. We believe that more examples of the latter sort will help both with disciplinary synthesis and with the advance of knowledge. Here we describe a 20-year arc of research to demonstrate the problem-solving utility of an evolutionary perspective by focusing, as a case study, on a particular cognitive bias – the endowment effect – that has implications for law. Legal systems often assume that humans make decisions that are substantively rational, consistent, and aimed at maximizing their own wellbeing. But prevalent cognitive biases disrupt this, showing that humans consistently make decisions that seem to violate rationality and/or their own best interests. And despite decades of research, there has been little progress in understanding why these biases exist. We are among the scholars who have converged on the idea that many cognitive biases may have evolved as adaptations to pre-modern conditions, the evolutionarily sudden changes from which often leave them mis-matched to current conditions, prompting us to situationally irrational outcomes. Here, we discuss our data testing hypotheses derived from this perspective in both humans and non-human primates and consider how it has advanced our understanding of both the endowment effect narrowly and cognitive biases generally – including those relevant to law and policy
Bounded rationality · Cognition · Cognitive bias · Cognitive psychology · Economics · Endowment · Epistemology · Evolutionary psychology · Irrational number · Microeconomics · Political science · Positive economics · Rationality · Computer Science · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Evolution and the expression of biases
Willingness to Pay and Compensation Demanded
A Review of WTA/WTP Studies
Judgment under uncertainty
Prospect Theory
Predicting variation in endowment effect magnitudes
The evolution of the endowment effect
Property in nonhuman primates
Effects of study design characteristics on the WTA–WTP disparity
Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem
Bad riddance or good rubbish? Ownership and not loss aversion causes the endowment effect
I like it, because I like myself
On the Evolutionary Origin of Prospect Theory Preferences
Error management theory
Anomalies
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |