Optimal Illusion of Control and Related Perception Biases
CERGE-EI Working Paper Series No. 571
43 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2016
There are 2 versions of this paper
Optimal Illusion of Control and Related Perception Biases
Optimal Illusion of Control and Related Perception Biases
Date Written: September 1, 2016
Abstract
We study perception biases arising under second-best perception strategies. An agent correctly observes a parameter that is payoff-relevant in many decision problems that she encounters in her environment but is unable to retain all the information until her decision. A designer of the decision process chooses a perception strategy that determines the distribution of the perception errors. If some information loss is unavoidable due to cognition constraints, then (under additional conditions) the optimal perception strategy exhibits the illusion of control, overconfidence, and optimism.
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