TY - JOUR
T1 - A rational model of people's inferences about others’ preferences based on response times
AU - Gates, Vael
AU - Callaway, Frederick
AU - Ho, Mark K.
AU - Griffiths, Thomas L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - There's a difference between someone instantaneously saying “Yes!” when you ask them on a date compared to “…yes.” Psychologists and economists have long studied how people can infer preferences from others’ choices. However, these models have tended to focus on what people choose and not how long it takes them to make a choice. We present a rational model for inferring preferences from response times, using a drift diffusion model to characterize how preferences influence response time, and Bayesian inference to invert this relationship. We test our model's predictions for three experimental questions. Matching model predictions, participants inferred that a decision-maker preferred a chosen item more if the decision-maker spent less time deliberating (Experiment 1), participants predicted a decision-maker's choice in a novel comparison based on inferring the decision-maker's relative preferences from previous response times and choices (Experiment 2), and participants could incorporate information about a decision-maker's mental state of cautious or careless (Experiments 3, 4A, and 4B).
AB - There's a difference between someone instantaneously saying “Yes!” when you ask them on a date compared to “…yes.” Psychologists and economists have long studied how people can infer preferences from others’ choices. However, these models have tended to focus on what people choose and not how long it takes them to make a choice. We present a rational model for inferring preferences from response times, using a drift diffusion model to characterize how preferences influence response time, and Bayesian inference to invert this relationship. We test our model's predictions for three experimental questions. Matching model predictions, participants inferred that a decision-maker preferred a chosen item more if the decision-maker spent less time deliberating (Experiment 1), participants predicted a decision-maker's choice in a novel comparison based on inferring the decision-maker's relative preferences from previous response times and choices (Experiment 2), and participants could incorporate information about a decision-maker's mental state of cautious or careless (Experiments 3, 4A, and 4B).
KW - Drift diffusion model
KW - Inference
KW - Social cognition
KW - Theory of mind
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104885
DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104885
M3 - Article
C2 - 34454336
AN - SCOPUS:85113405223
SN - 0010-0277
VL - 217
JO - Cognition
JF - Cognition
M1 - 104885
ER -