Why do people who think they have failed want to see the results more? An investigation based on the Ego Utility Model

Kazumi Shimizu and Rongyu Hu ()
Additional contact information
Rongyu Hu: Graduate School of Economics, Waseda University

No 2403, Working Papers from Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics

Abstract: This paper examines how ego utility influences decision making and shows that the desire to maintain or enhance one’s self-image can lead to the avoidance of useful information if it conflicts with existing beliefs. It challenges the traditional economic view of purely rational decision making focused on economic gain by incorporating ego utility into expected utility theory. The study provides theoretical evidence on how ego utility affects information processing and decision-making, suggesting that self-esteem plays a significant role. This work enriches the field of behavioural economics by shedding light on the reasons behind individuals’ reluctance to seek relevant information, highlighting the complex relationship between ego utility and information seeking behaviour.

Keywords: ego utility; Bayesian updating; beta distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2024-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.waseda.jp/fpse/winpec/assets/uploads/2 ... 6b1a5dca6a5387d6.pdf First version (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:wap:wpaper:2403

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Haruko Noguchi ().