Logical Decisions - Classweb

this truck B, and call the change from truck A to
truck B change 1. Suppose in addition that
tomorrow I find another truck that has 160 hp and
the same levels on the other measures as trucks A
and B. Call this truck C. Call the change from
truck B to truck C change 2.
Since all the other measures are equal, you should
like truck C better than truck B better than truck A.
But I want you to tell me which change is more
important: change 1 where horsepower improves
from 80 to 120 or change 2, where horsepower
improves from 120 to 160?
A: Well, 120 is halfway between 80 and 160, so I
suppose I should feel that the changes are equally
important, but I think that 120 hp is pretty
adequate for the type of driving I do and that 80
hp is just barely acceptable, so even though I'd
like the 160 hp truck, I think that change 1 is the
most important.
Q2: OK, that makes sense. Now let me change the
question a little bit. Lets change the horsepower on
truck B from 120 to 100 while keeping everything
else the same. This means that change 1 is from 80
to 100 hp and change 2 is from 100 to 160. Now
which change is more important?
A: With truck B at 100 hp, its not that much better
than truck A, so now I think that change 2, where
I can improve all the way from 100 to 160 is more
important.
Q3: Good. You can see that I'm trying to find a
horsepower for truck B that makes it so that change
1 and change 2 are equally important. Now, how
would you feel if I change truck B's hp to 105?
A: I still think that change 2 is more important if
the midpoint is 105, but if you made it 110 I'd
have a hard time choosing.
The decision maker has discovered that 110 hp represents her
mid-preference level in the range from 80 to 160 hp.
9-18 Section 9 -- In Depth