Decision Making Individual Differences Inventory

Distribution Builder (DB)

Goldstein, D. G., Johnson, E. J., & Sharpe, W. F. (2008). Choosing outcomes versus choosing products: Consumer-focused retirement investment advice. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(3), 440-456. doi: 10.1086/589562

	Table of Contents
	Description
	History of Use
	References

Description:

Purpose		The DB was designed to assess risk attitude and loss aversion by "elicit[ing] preferred probability distributions of retirement income" under cost constraints.
Questions		On the vertical axis, the DB interface has outcome rows ranging from 0% to 200% (retirement income expressed as a percentage of pre-retirement income). Ps are told that 75% is a typical goal. The interface has 100 markers that form a probability distribution against the left vertical axis. At the beginning of the trial, the markers are at the bottom of the screen. One randomly-selected, unidentified marker represents the P and the rest of the markers are placeholders. Ps use the mouse to drag the markers up to different places on the vertical axis. Clicking on a marker moves that marker and all of the markers to the right of it. Ps move the markers to create their preferred probability distribution, the distribution that they "would be happy to have determine [their] own wealth in retirement." Ps are constrained in moving the markers by a budget meter representing the costs of the selected distribution in financial markets. The markers are each weighted by a "unique state price." Only distributions in which the sum of the weighted 100 chosen outcome rows approximates the budget can be submitted. When Ps submit their distribution, 99 randomly-chosen markers disappear one at a time until one marker is left.
Sub-scales		N/A
Domain
Psychometrics
Sample items

References:

Scale:

For technical details:

Sharpe, W. F. (2006). Asset prices and portfolio choice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Sharpe, W. F., Goldstein, D. G., & Blythe, P. W. (2000). The Distribution Builder: A tool for inferring investor preferences. Working paper at http://www.stanford.edu/~wfsharpe/art/qpaper/qpaper.html .