Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Using Judgments to Understand Decoy Effects in Choice Location of Alternatives in a Two Dimensional Space. in B on Dimension 2 but Not on Dimension 1. the Arrow

Students were presented choice triads from several different domains, with alternatives described along two dimensions. In Experiment 1, the decoy alternative in each set was dominated by only one of the two other alternatives in the set. In Experiment 2, the decoy alternative was dominated by both of the other alternatives in the set. Within different blocks of trials, participants rated (a) overall attractiveness of each alternative, (b) importance of the different dimensions, (c) attractiveness of each attribute value, and (d) the justifiability of each alternative. Significant effects of manipulating the decoy were found for justifiability ratings and value ratings, with these combining to predict effects on attractiveness ratings. Results argued against a weight-change model of decoy effects and supported value-shift and value-added models.

[1]  I. Simonson,et al.  THE INFLUENCE OF ANTICIPATING REGRET AND RESPONSIBILITY ON PURCHASE DECISIONS , 1992 .

[2]  D. H. Wedell,et al.  Distinguishing Among Models of Contextually Induced Preference Reversals , 1991 .

[3]  A. Tversky,et al.  Choice in Context: Tradeoff Contrast and Extremeness Aversion , 1992 .

[4]  Douglas H. Wedell,et al.  Contextual Contrast in Evaluative Judgments: A Test of Pre- Versus Postintegration Models of Contrast , 1994 .

[5]  A. Parducci.  Category Ratings and the Relational Character of Judgment , 1983 .

[6]  A. Tversky,et al.  Contingent weighting in judgment and choice , 1988 .

[7]  L. Thurstone.  A law of comparative judgment. , 1994 .

[8]  I. Simonson,et al.  Choice Based on Reasons: The Case of Attraction and Compromise Effects , 1989 .

[9]  B. Mellers.  "Fair" allocations of salaries and taxes. , 1986 .

[10]  Alan D. J. Cooke,et al.  Trade-offs depend on attribute range. , 1994 .

[11]  Michael H. Birnbaum,et al.  Loci of contextual effects in judgment. , 1982 .

[12]  A. Parducci.  Chapter 5 – CONTEXTUAL EFFECTS: A RANGE–FREQUENCY ANALYSIS* , 1974 .

[13]  M H Birnbaum,et al.  Loci of contextual effects in judgment. , 1982, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[14]  Joel Huber,et al.  Market Boundaries and Product Choice: Illustrating Attraction and Substitution Effects , 1983 .

[15]  P. Tetlock,et al.  Accountability: a social magnifier of the dilution effect. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  D. H. Wedell,et al.  A formal analysis of ratings of physical attractiveness: Successive contrast and simultaneous assimilation , 1987 .

[17]  D. Wedell.  Contrast Effects in Paired Comparisons: Evidence for Both Stimulus-Based and Response-Based Processes , 1995 .

[18]  D. H. Wedell,et al.  A constructive-associative model of the contextual dependence of unidimensional similarity. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  P. Tetlock.  Accountability: The neglected social context of judgment and choice. , 1985 .

[20]  A. Tversky.  Elimination by aspects: A theory of choice. , 1972 .