Special issue on Bipolar representations of information and preference (Part 1A: Cognition and Decision)
Résumé
Information is often stated in a bipolar way, that is, a distinction is often made between positive and negative aspects. This especially concerns the way pieces of knowledge, as well as preferences, are expressed. An obvious example is the opposition between beliefs and disbeliefs that are graded on appropriate scales where positive and negative values are explicitly accounted for. Similarity and dissimilarity (which may differ from nonsimilarity) offer another illustration of the idea of bipolarity. Argumentation is by nature bipolar, since one distinguishes between arguments in favor of and arguments against a debatable claim or choice. More generally, positive information often corresponds to a collection of pieces of empirical evidence, such as observed cases, examples, to situations that can be encountered for sure, to states that are explicitly permitted, to recommended choices, to what an agent likes or desires. Negative information often reflects a priori restrictions on the possible states of the world, which may be stated under the form of generic rules (maybe with some exceptions). It points out impossible situations, counterexamples, forbidden states, potentially bad choices, or yet what an agent dislikes or rejects.