The Construction of Preference: Constructing Preferences From Memory

Our memories define who we are and what we do. Aside from a few preferences hardwired by evolution, they also define what we like and how we choose. In this chapter, we argue that our view of preference changes if conceptualized explicitly as the product of memory representations and memory processes. We draw on insights about the functions and operations of memory provided by cognitive psychology and social cognition to show that memory plays a crucial role in preference and choice. We examine memory processes in preference and choice at a more "micro" and process-oriented level than previous investigations into the role of memory processes, but at a level that is cognitive and functional, rather than computational. We suggest that a consideration of properties of memory representation and retrieval may provide a unifying explanatory framework for some seemingly disparate preference phenomena.

[1]  Vicki G. Morwitz,et al.  The Effect of Measuring Intent on Brand-Level Purchase Behavior , 1996 .

[2]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  Incorporating the Irrelevant: Anchors in Judgments of Belief and Value , 2002 .

[3]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  Behavioral decision research: A constructive processing perspective. , 1992 .

[4]  J. Neumann,et al.  Theory of games and economic behavior , 1945, 100 Years of Math Milestones.

[5]  K. R. Hammond.  Functionalism and illusionism: Can integration be usefully achieved? , 1990 .

[6]  Robert Bontempo.  Insights in decision making: A tribute to Hillel J. Einhorn, Edited By Robin M. Hogarth, Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1990 , 1991 .

[7]  G. Loewenstein,et al.  Decision making over time and under uncertainty: a common approach , 1991 .

[8]  J. E. Russo,et al.  Biased interpretation of evidence by mock jurors. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[9]  Eldar Shafir,et al.  Reason-based choice , 1993, Cognition.

[10]  Vicki G. Morwitz,et al.  Do Polls Reflect Opinions or Do Opinions Reflect Polls? The Impact of Political Polling on Voters' Expectations, Preferences, and Behavior , 1996 .

[11]  J. Russell.  Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. , 2003, Psychological review.

[12]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  Anchoring, Activation, and the Construction of Values. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[13]  J. Edward Russo,et al.  Predecisional Distortion of Information by Auditors and Salespersons , 2000 .

[14]  N. Epley,et al.  Putting Adjustment Back in the Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic: Differential Processing of Self-Generated and Experimenter-Provided Anchors , 2001, Psychological science.

[15]  Michael C. Anderson,et al.  On the status of inhibitory mechanisms in cognition: memory retrieval as a model case. , 1995, Psychological review.

[16]  Steven J. Sherman,et al.  Natural sample spaces and the inversion of conditional judgments , 1992 .

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

[18]  Baruch Fischhoff,et al.  Predicting Frames , 1983 .

[19]  Lee Roy Beach,et al.  Image theory: Principles, goals, and plans in decision making , 1987 .

[20]  A. Tversky,et al.  Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model , 1991 .

[21]  B. Underwood,et al.  Critical issues in interference theory , 1973, Memory & cognition.

[22]  C. Gettys,et al.  MINERVA-DM: A memory processes model for judgments of likelihood. , 1999 .

[23]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  The Adaptive Decision-Maker : Effort and Accuracy in Choice , 2022 .

[24]  Stephen J. Hoch,et al.  Counterfactual reasoning and accuracy in predicting personal events. , 1985 .

[25]  G. Loewenstein.  Frames of mind in intertemporal choice , 1988 .

[26]  John R. Anderson,et al.  A partial resolution of the paradox of interference: The role of integrating knowledge , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.

[27]  Christopher K. Hsee,et al.  Culture and Individual Judgment and Decision Making , 2008 .

[28]  Jonathan D. Nelson,et al.  What a speaker’s choice of frame reveals: Reference points, frame selection, and framing effects , 2003, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[29]  A. Tversky,et al.  Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk — Source link , 2007 .

[30]  Vicki G. Morwitz,et al.  Does Measuring Intent Change Behavior , 1993 .

[31]  F. Strack,et al.  Explaining the Enigmatic Anchoring Effect: Mechanisms of Selective Accessibility , 1997 .

[32]  E. Loftus,et al.  The Formation of False Memories , 1995 .

[33]  E. Tulving,et al.  When retrieval cueing fails , 1978 .

[34]  Michael H. Birnbaum,et al.  Source Credibility in Social Judgment: Bias, Expertise, and the Judge's Point of View , 1979 .

[35]  V. Morwitz,et al.  Why Consumers Don't Always Accurately Predict Their Own Future Behavior , 1997 .

[36]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases , 1974, Science.

[37]  Lindsey J. Powell,et al.  It's the Thought That Counts , 2006, Psychological science.

[38]  J. Forgas.  Mood and judgment: the affect infusion model (AIM). , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[39]  G. Clore,et al.  Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states. , 1983 .

[40]  Michael C. Anderson,et al.  Interference and inhibition in memory retrieval. , 1996 .

[41]  A E Seiffert,et al.  Selective attention: a reevaluation of the implications of negative priming. , 1998, Psychological review.

[42]  E. Weber,et al.  ‘How Do I Choose Thee? Let me Count the Ways’: A Textual Analysis of Similarities and Differences in Modes of Decision-making in China and the United States , 2005, Management and Organization Review.

[43]  A. Tversky,et al.  Prospect Theory : An Analysis of Decision under Risk Author ( s ) : , 2007 .

[44]  C. Lustig,et al.  Implicit memory is not immune to interference. , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[45]  D. Kahneman,et al.  Does Living in California Make People Happy? A Focusing Illusion in Judgments of Life Satisfaction , 1998 .

[46]  Nicole D. Anderson,et al.  Memory in the aging brain , 2000 .

[47]  P. Slovic.  The Construction of Preference , 1995 .

[48]  Dan Ariely,et al.  Goal-Based Construction of Preferences: Task Goals and the Prominence Effect , 1999 .

[49]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Reasons for confidence. , 1980 .

[50]  V. Reyna,et al.  Theories of false memory in children and adults , 1997 .

[51]  P. Todd,et al.  Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart , 1999 .

[52]  A. Tversky,et al.  Affect, Generalization, and the Perception of Risk. , 1983 .

[53]  Steven J. Sherman,et al.  The role of prior knowledge in explaining hypothetical events , 1985 .

[54]  R. Hogarth.  Insights in Decision Making , 1990 .

[55]  E. Rowland.  Theory of Games and Economic Behavior , 1946, Nature.

[56]  P. Slovic,et al.  Reversals of preference between bids and choices in gambling decisions. , 1971 .

[57]  Charles J. Brainerd,et al.  Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research: Memory, Development, and Rationality: An Integrative Theory of Judgment and Decision Making , 2003 .

[58]  Elke U. Weber,et al.  And let us not Forget Memory: The Role of Memory Processes and Techniques in the Study of Judgment and Choice , 1995 .

[59]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The fan effect: New results and new theories. , 1999 .

[60]  Christopher K. Hsee,et al.  Risk as Feelings , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[61]  D. Ariely,et al.  “Coherent Arbitrariness”: Stable Demand Curves Without Stable Preferences , 2003 .

[62]  R. Thaler.  Mental accounting matters , 1999 .

[63]  Adrian C. North,et al.  The influence of in-store music on wine selections. , 1999 .

[64]  F. Strack,et al.  The Semantics of Anchoring , 2001 .

[65]  I. Levin,et al.  How Consumers Are Affected by the Framing of Attribute Information Before and After Consuming the Product , 1988 .

[66]  Allan Collins,et al.  A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing , 1975 .

[67]  C. Gettys,et al.  Emerging Perspectives on Judgment and Decision Research: Memory as a Fundamental Heuristic for Decision Making , 2003 .

[68]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under Uncertainty , 1982 .

[69]  Adrian C. North,et al.  In-store music affects product choice , 1997, Nature.

[70]  Francis J. Flynn,et al.  It’s the Thought That Counts: On Perceiving How Helpers Decide to Lend a Hand , 2003, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[71]  R Ratcliff,et al.  A counter model for implicit priming in perceptual word identification. , 1997, Psychological review.

[72]  F. Craik,et al.  The Oxford handbook of memory , 2006 .

[73]  Robin M. Hogarth,et al.  Insights in decision making : a tribute to Hillel J. Einhorn , 1990 .

[74]  Stephen J. Hoch,et al.  Availability and interference in predictive judgment. , 1984 .

[75]  J. Bargh,et al.  Automaticity of social behavior: direct effects of trait construct and stereotype-activation on action. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[76]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  When Web Pages Influence Choice: Effects of Visual Primes on Experts and Novices , 2002 .

[77]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  The limits of anchoring. , 1994 .

[78]  Drazen Prelec,et al.  The Construction of Preference: “Coherent Arbitrariness”: Stable Demand Curves Without Stable Preferences , 2006 .

[79]  E F Loftus,et al.  Trivial persuasion in the courtroom: the power of (a few) minor details. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[80]  Margaret G. Meloy,et al.  Predecisional Distortion of Product Information , 1998 .

[81]  Thomas Mussweiler,et al.  Overcoming the Inevitable Anchoring Effect: Considering the Opposite Compensates for Selective Accessibility , 2000 .

[82]  H. Varian.  Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach , 1987 .

[83]  Deborah A. Small,et al.  Heart Strings and Purse Strings , 2004, Psychological science.

[84]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Value elicitation: Is there anything in there? , 1991 .

[85]  M. Watkins,et al.  Buildup of Proactive Inhibition as a Cue-Overload Effect. , 1975 .