Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics

Details Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics

2010-04-15

arxiv.org/abs/1004.2529v1

International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 49, pp. 2971-2990, (2010)

Physics

Physics and Society

15 pages, 4 figures

Scientific paper

10.1007/s10773-010-0477-0

We prove a theorem which shows that a collection of experimental data of probabilistic weights related to decisions with respect to situations and their disjunction cannot be modeled within a classical probabilistic weight structure in case the experimental data contain the effect referred to as the 'disjunction effect' in psychology. We identify different experimental situations in psychology, more specifically in concept theory and in decision theory, and in economics (namely situations where Savage's Sure-Thing Principle is violated) where the disjunction effect appears and we point out the common nature of the effect. We analyze how our theorem constitutes a no-go theorem for classical probabilistic weight structures for common experimental data when the disjunction effect is affecting the values of these data. We put forward a simple geometric criterion that reveals the non classicality of the considered probabilistic weights and we illustrate our geometrical criterion by means of experimentally measured membership weights of items with respect to pairs of concepts and their disjunctions. The violation of the classical probabilistic weight structure is very analogous to the violation of the well-known Bell inequalities studied in quantum mechanics. The no-go theorem we prove in the present article with respect to the collection of experimental data we consider has a status analogous to the well known no-go theorems for hidden variable theories in quantum mechanics with respect to experimental data obtained in quantum laboratories. For this reason our analysis puts forward a strong argument in favor of the validity of using a quantum formalism for modeling the considered psychological experimental data as considered in this paper.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Quantum Experimental Data in Psychology and Economics will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-379351