Preference reversal in decision making: The attraction effect in choice and rejection.

COLOMBO L.;NICOTRA, ERALDO FRANCESCO;MARINO B.

2002-01-01

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Abstract

When people express a preference between two alternatives A and B in terms of a positive choice of one option, this can exceed in strength the same preference expressed as a rejection of the alternative. This effect of response mode has been interpreted by Shafir (1993) in terms of response compatibility theory, according to which decision makers display an influence of the compatibility between the type of response (choose/reject) and the positive/ negative attributes of the options. In the present study we investigated the influence on response mode (choice/rejection) of the attraction effect, in which a decoy similar to one of two options, but lower in value, modifies the share of the option to which it is similar when added to the original set (Huber, Payne & Puto 1982; Simonson & Tversky, 1992). A decoy negative in value, but similar to one of the alternatives was added to a twooption set, one with a high variation in attributes (enriched) and one with a low variation (impoverished). We investigated whether both choice and rejections were influenced by the decoy’s presence, as compared to the baseline two-option condition, and whether, consequently, the pattern of dominance between choice and rejection was modified. We found a pattern of rejection dominance in the two-option condition (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, where the attraction effect was investigated, there was an increase in the proportion of choices (and a correspondent decrease in rejections) of the similar alternative, as compared to the original two-option set, only for the option with low variation in the attributes. For the enriched option, rejection, but not choice, was influenced by the presence of the decoy.