Bias in Spatial Risk Assessment

Himanshu Mishra (), Arul Mishra () and Oscar Moreno ()
Additional contact information
Himanshu Mishra: David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Arul Mishra: David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Oscar Moreno: David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

Management Science, 2015, vol. 61, issue 4, 851-863

Abstract: In instances of decision making under uncertainty with a visual component, we propose that individuals show a bias and estimate a higher probability of a threat affecting them if the threat is located in their left visual field compared to their right visual field. Across four studies we demonstrate the bias in naturalistic settings such as pedestrians assessing the risk of crossing the street, individuals estimating the risk posed from an unsavory person, and people assessing the contamination risk of an object. Moreover, we discuss four potential mechanisms that could cause the proposed effect. Finally, we discuss theoretical, managerial, and policy implications. This paper was accepted by Yuval Rottenstreich, judgment and decision making .

Keywords: spatial risk; risk assessment; bias; intuitive processing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1912 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:61:y:2015:i:4:p:851-863

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().