On Prior Confidence and Belief Updating

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chan, Kenneth, Charness, Gary, Dave, Chetan, Reddinger, J. Lucas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Chan, Kenneth
Charness, Gary
Dave, Chetan
Reddinger, J. Lucas
author_facet Chan, Kenneth
Charness, Gary
Dave, Chetan
Reddinger, J. Lucas
contents We experimentally investigate how confidence over multiple priors affects belief updating. Theory predicts that the average Bayesian posterior is unaffected by confidence over multiple priors if average priors are the same. We manipulate confidence by varying the time subjects view a black-and-white grid, the proportion representing the prior in a Bernoulli distribution. We find that when subjects view the grid for a longer duration, they have more confidence, under-update more, and place more (less) weight on priors (signals). Overall, confidence over multiple priors matters when it should not, while confidence in prior beliefs does not matter when it should.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_10662
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On Prior Confidence and Belief Updating
Chan, Kenneth
Charness, Gary
Dave, Chetan
Reddinger, J. Lucas
General Economics
Economics
We experimentally investigate how confidence over multiple priors affects belief updating. Theory predicts that the average Bayesian posterior is unaffected by confidence over multiple priors if average priors are the same. We manipulate confidence by varying the time subjects view a black-and-white grid, the proportion representing the prior in a Bernoulli distribution. We find that when subjects view the grid for a longer duration, they have more confidence, under-update more, and place more (less) weight on priors (signals). Overall, confidence over multiple priors matters when it should not, while confidence in prior beliefs does not matter when it should.
title On Prior Confidence and Belief Updating
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.10662