← all facts
risk
You avoid the unknown even when it offers rewards.
Ambiguity aversion describes the tendency to prefer options with known probabilities over options with unknown probabilities in decision-making contexts.
The preference is observed through choices that violate the subjective expected utility axioms, not necessarily as a measurable stress reaction.
You would rather lose by the rules than gamble in the dark.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Daniel Ellsberg, 1961
- What the check found
- The core concept is correct, but framing it as a 'stress' response is an unsupported psychological projection onto an economic model.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.