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Related Experiment Videos

Choosing an inferior alternative.

J Edward Russo1, Kurt A Carlson, Margaret G Meloy

  • 1Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. jer9@cornell.edu

Psychological Science
|November 15, 2006
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Decision makers can be manipulated into choosing inferior options by strategically presenting information. This process exploits natural cognitive biases, leading to undetected preference violations and high confidence in poor choices.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Decision Science

Background:

  • Rational decision-making models assume individuals logically select the best option.
  • Deviations from rationality, such as choosing inferior alternatives, indicate underlying cognitive biases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate a method for inducing decision makers to select a personally inferior alternative.
  • To investigate the cognitive mechanisms driving this preference violation.
  • To assess decision makers' awareness of the manipulation process.

Main Methods:

  • Establishing an initial preference for an inferior option through biased information presentation.
  • Observing the natural tendency to distort subsequent information to support the leading option.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Quantifying the extent of information distortion and its impact on final choices.

    • Main Results:

    • Decision makers were successfully induced to choose self-identified inferior alternatives.
    • Information distortion in favor of the leading option overrode the superior alternative's advantages.
    • Awareness of the distortion process did not correlate with the amount of distortion observed.

    Conclusions:

    • The described manipulation technique can lead to significant violations of rational decision making.
    • Lack of awareness regarding information distortion makes the manipulation difficult to detect or correct.
    • Decision makers exhibit high confidence in their choices, regardless of whether the superior or inferior option is selected, highlighting the subtlety of the bias.