A Subjective Value Approach to Information Utility

Abstract

Following formulation of a subjective value model and laboratory validation of some of its key assumptions, the model was applied to the airborne antisubmarine warfare situation by pooling judgments of experienced personnel selected from operational airborne-antisubmarine-warfare squadrons. When scaled, these judgments permitted structuring of three sets of airborne-antisubmarine-warfare problems which varied in terms of the perceived value of information provided to crews. The dependent variable was adequacy of performance on realistic exercises in a training simulator. Personnel who made the original subjective judgments and others as well were employed. The proportion of search area remaining per unit time decreased as a linear function of perceived information value as predicted. The subjective model accounted for approximately 90% of the observed between-group variance, thereby demonstrating its efficacy in a limited real-world situation.