Applications of quantum statistics in psychological studies of decision processes

Aerts, Diedrik; Aerts, Sven

doi:10.1007/bf00208726

Cited by 186 publications

(211 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…We refer to [7,8,9] for the details of such a proof for the quantum spin 1/2 model. The fact that we need at least three experiments does not however suppress the fact that the physical origin of the non-Kolmogorovian behavior is clearly due to the presence of explicit creation aspects [52].…”

Section: Magic With Neutronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stuff the World is Made of: Physics and Reality

Aerts¹

1999

Einstein Meets Magritte: An Interdisciplinary Reflection

137

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Taking into account the results that we have been obtained during the last decade in the foundations of quantum mechanic we put forward a view on reality that we call the 'creation discovery view'. In this view it is made explicit that a measurement is an act of a macroscopic physical entity on a microphysical entity that entails the creation of new elements of reality as well as the detection of existing elements of reality. Within this view most of the quantum mechanical paradoxes are due to structural shortcomings of the standard quantum theory, which means that our analysis agrees with the claim made in the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paper, namely that standards quantum mechanics is an incomplete theory. This incompleteness is however not due to the absence of hidden variables but to the impossibility for standard quantum mechanics to describe separated quantum entities. Nonlocality appears as a genuine property of nature in our view and makes it necessary to reconsider the role of space in reality. Our proposal for a new interpretation for space makes it possible to put forward an new hypothesis for why it has not been possible to unify quantum mechanics and relativity theory.Absolute space, in its own nature, without relation to anything external, remains always similar and immovable. Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equally without relation to anything external.Isaac Newton, 1642 -1726. * Published as: Aerts, D., 1999, "The stuff the world is made of: physics and reality", in Einstein meets Magritte: an interdisciplinary reflection, eds. Aerts, D., Broekaert, J. and Mathijs, E., Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht.

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Section: Magic With Neutronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Stuff the World is Made of: Physics and Reality

Aerts¹

1999

Einstein Meets Magritte: An Interdisciplinary Reflection

137

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“…Similarly, paradoxical findings in psychology have made a growing number of researchers seek explanations that make use of the quantum formalism in cognitive situations. For example, Aerts & Aerts (1994;see also Khrennikov 2004;La Mura in press;Mogiliansky et al in press) modelled incompatibility and interference effects that arise in human preference judgements. Gabora & Aerts (2002;see also Aerts & Gabora 2005a,b; in press) modelled puzzling findings found in human reasoning with conceptual combinations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such approaches can be labelled 'geometric' (cf. Aerts & Aerts 1994) in that they use the geometric properties of Hilbert space representations and the measurement principles of quantum theory, but not the dynamical aspects of quantum theory (time evolution with Schrö-dinger's equation).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantum probability explanation for violations of ‘rational’ decision theory

2009

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Two experimental tasks in psychology, the two-stage gambling game and the Prisoner's Dilemma game, show that people violate the sure thing principle of decision theory. These paradoxical findings have resisted explanation by classical decision theory for over a decade. A quantum probability model, based on a Hilbert space representation and Schrödinger's equation, provides a simple and elegant explanation for this behaviour. The quantum model is compared with an equivalent Markov model and it is shown that the latter is unable to account for violations of the sure thing principle. Accordingly, it is argued that quantum probability provides a better framework for modelling human decision-making.

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“…Fifty years of behavioral decision-making research has established that humans do not always follow the "rational" rules of Bayesian probability theory (1). Recently, a group of psychologists and physicists have formulated new rules for human reasoning under uncertainty based on quantum probability theory (2)(3)(4). This article reports a test of this theory based on results from a quite different paradigm.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Context effects produced by question orders reveal quantum nature of human judgments

Wang

Solloway

Shiffrin

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

217

304

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The hypothesis that human reasoning obeys the laws of quantum rather than classical probability has been used in recent years to explain a variety of seemingly "irrational" judgment and decisionmaking findings. This article provides independent evidence for this hypothesis based on an a priori prediction, called the quantum question (QQ) equality, concerning the effect of asking attitude questions successively in different orders. We empirically evaluated the predicted QQ equality using 70 national representative surveys and two laboratory experiments that manipulated question orders. Each national study contained 651-3,006 participants. The results provided strong support for the predicted QQ equality. These findings suggest that quantum probability theory, initially invented to explain noncommutativity of measurements in physics, provides a simple account for a surprising regularity regarding measurement order effects in social and behavioral science.attitude judgment | national surveys | quantum theory | measurement effects U nderstanding human reasoning under uncertainty is fundamental for improving decisions about environmental policies, economic planning, public health, and many other important areas. Fifty years of behavioral decision-making research has established that humans do not always follow the "rational" rules of Bayesian probability theory (1). Recently, a group of psychologists and physicists have formulated new rules for human reasoning under uncertainty based on quantum probability theory (2-4). This article reports a test of this theory based on results from a quite different paradigm. We show that the theory implies an a priori and precise prediction called the quantum question (QQ) equality (5). This parameter-free prediction concerns the effect of question order on human judgments. The prediction was tested with the results of 70 national representative surveys, most containing more than 1,000 participants per survey, and two laboratory studies, that manipulated question order. This article presents the QQ equality, its surprisingly strong empirical support, and the key quantum principle, called the law of reciprocity, upon which the QQ equality was mathematically derived. Finally, we explain why human judgments follow quantum rules even if the brain may not be a quantum computer. The QQ EqualityTo introduce the QQ equality, consider three examples of context effects on answers to attitude questions in surveys, illustrated in Table 1. These are the results of three Gallup polls reported in a seminal article on question order effects (6). Each poll included a representative sample of around 1,000 US adults. The participants in one random half of the sample were asked two questions in one order, and those in the other half were asked the same two questions in the opposite order. In the first poll, people were asked whether Bill Clinton was honest and trustworthy, and whether Al Gore was honest and trustworthy. In the second poll, people were asked whether white people dislike black people, ...

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Applications of quantum statistics in psychological studies of decision processes

Cited by 186 publications

References 3 publications

The Stuff the World is Made of: Physics and Reality

The Stuff the World is Made of: Physics and Reality

A quantum probability explanation for violations of ‘rational’ decision theory

Context effects produced by question orders reveal quantum nature of human judgments

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