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Examining Models of Nondominated Decoy Effects across Judgment and Choice
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
|March 9, 2000
Summary
This study investigates cognitive models of decoy effects in decision-making. Findings reveal that while some decoy effects are similar in choice and judgment, others differ, particularly the phantom decoy effect which is choice-based.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Decoy effects, observed in decision-making, occur when the presence of an asymmetrically dominated option influences preference between two other options.
- Existing cognitive models attempt to explain decoy effects through value shifts or emergent values arising from inter-alternative comparisons.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore and compare cognitive models explaining inferior, compromise, and phantom decoy effects in both judgment and choice tasks.
- To determine whether decoy effects arise from shifts in dimensional attribute values or from emergent values based on relational comparisons.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted involving participants making judgments (attractiveness, justifiability, evaluation anxiety) and choices.
- Participants evaluated alternatives based on dimensional values and made preferential choices.
- Analysis focused on distinguishing between value-shift and emergent-value explanations for observed decoy effects.
Main Results:
- Both emergent-value and value-shift models supported inferior decoy effects.
- Only the emergent-value model supported compromise decoy effects.
- Phantom decoy effects were exclusively observed in choice, not in judgment tasks.
Conclusions:
- Decoy effects exhibit similarities between judgment and choice but also possess distinct characteristics.
- The findings support nuanced cognitive models that account for both attribute-based value changes and relational value emergence in decision-making.