expected utility

noun

1. statistics the weighted average utility of the possible outcomes of a probabilistic situation; the sum or integral of the product of the probability distribution and the utility function

Example Sentences

Examples of terms that promise uncontested precision include: ‘cost–benefit’, ‘expected utility’, ‘decision theory’, ‘life-cycle assessment’, ‘ecosystem services’, and ‘evidence-based policy’.

From Nature

Rational agents act intelligently, he tells us, to the degree that their actions aim to achieve their objectives, hence maximizing expected utility.

From Nature

In economics and psychology, “expected utility theory” predicts that people work hardest, and perform their best, when the net returns to effort are highest.

From The New Yorker

Psychologist Paul Slovic and his colleagues are responsible for much of the overwhelming evidence that people evaluate risk-based situational features that evoke emotion rather than on expected utility.

From Slate

A robust methodology exists for doing so, based upon the expected utility theory of John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.

From New York Times