Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ambiguity Aversion

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 27 Accesses

Synonyms

Pessimism; Uncertainty

Definition

The preference for known risks over unknown risks

Introduction

When you are faced with a decision, the first thing you may consider are the consequences – what happens when I take this action? For instance, when you consider going parachute jumping you expect this to be a lot of fun, but you also take into account that there is a chance you can get into an accident. To get an estimate about these odds you can go to the website of the United States Parachute Associations (http://www.uspa.org/facts-faqs/safety) and look up the numbers: the data from the last 10 years suggest there is a 1 in 130,000 chance of a fatality. However, for most decisions that we are confronted with, we rarely know the exact probability and outcome distributions associated with them, nor are those distributions available. For instance, what are the chances that we would actually like the experience of parachute jumping? And if so how much fun would it really be? If you...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 3,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 5,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Binmore, K., Stewart, L., & Voorhoeve, A. (2012). How much ambiguity aversion? Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 45, 215–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blankenstein, N. E., Crone, E. A., van den Bos, W., & van Duijvenvoorde, A. C. K. (2016). Dealing with uncertainty: Testing risk- and ambiguity-attitude across adolescence. Developmental Neuropsychology, 41, 77–92.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellsberg, D. (1961). Risk, ambiguity, and the Savage axioms. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 61, 643–669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayden, B. Y., Heilbronner, S., & Platt, M. (2010). Ambiguity aversion in rhesus macaques. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 4, 166.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hertwig, R., & Erev, I. (2009). The decision-experience gap in risky choice. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 517–523.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huettel, S. a., Stowe, C. J., Gordon, E. M., Warner, B. T., & Platt, M. L. (2006). Neural signatures of economic preferences for risk and ambiguity. Neuron, 49, 765–775.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, F. (1921). Risk, uncertainty and profit. Boston: Hart, Schaffner & Marx.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauriola, M., Levin, I. P., & Hart, S. S. (2007). Common and distinct factors in decision making under ambiguity and risk: A psychometric study of individual differences. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 104, 130–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, I., Snell, J., Nelson, A. J., Rustichini, A., & Glimcher, P. W. (2010). Neural representation of subjective value under risk and ambiguity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 103, 1036–1047.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li, R., Brannon, E. M., & Huettel, S. a. (2015). Children do not exhibit ambiguity aversion despite intact familiarity bias. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063–1078.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tymula, A., Rosenberg Belmaker, L. A., Roy, A. K., Ruderman, L., Manson, K., Glimcher, P. W., & Levy, I. (2012). Adolescents’ risk-taking behavior is driven by tolerance to ambiguity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, 17135–17140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van den Bos, W., & Hertwig, R. (2017). Adolescents display distinctive tolerance to ambiguity and to uncertainty during risky decision making. Nature Scientific Reports, 7, 40962.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wakker, P. (2010). Prospect theory: For risk and ambiguity. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Wouter van den Bos

  2. Department of Developmental Psychology University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Wouter van den Bos

Authors
  1. Wouter van den Bos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wouter van den Bos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland

    Monika Wróbel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

van den Bos, W. (2020). Ambiguity Aversion. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_2290

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation