Expression Theory and the measurement of apparently labile values

Systematic inconsistencies in judgments and choices have been attributed to either the encoding of information and/or its evaluation. However, anomalies in decision making can also result from the way people express their internal experiences on different overt response scales. A model that relates underlying preferences for gambles to a variety of observable judgments and choices (e.g. binary choices, judgments and minimum selling price, ratings of attractiveness) is developed. The model, called Expression Theory, explains how stable and consistent underlying preferences can result in inconsistent overt responses, including ‘preference reversal’ phenomena. Thus, one can choose alternative A over B, but rate B as more attractive than A. An axiomatic foundation is developed for Expression Theory that gives insight into the structure of the model and suggests further empirical work. The relative importance of the axioms to the substantive theory is discussed, along with issues relevant to the measurement of the numerical scales.