A map of decoy influence in human multialternative choice
Tsvetomira Dumbalska1, Vickie Li1, Konstantinos Tsetsos2
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom.
Summary
Human decision-making is influenced by irrelevant options. New research reveals these biases, including attraction, similarity, and compromise effects, stem from a single principle of attribute repulsion.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Behavioral economics
- Decision science
Background:
- Human choices can be distorted by irrelevant information, such as inferior or unavailable options.
- Classic biases like attraction, similarity, and compromise effects in economic choices are not fully understood regarding their reliability and origins.
Purpose of the Study:
- To comprehensively map the influence of decoy options on choices between two preferred alternatives.
- To identify the underlying computational principles governing these decision biases.
Main Methods:
- Conducted incentive-compatible choices with human participants on assets varying in price and quality.
- Exhaustively sampled decoy stimuli across a bidimensional multiattribute space to create a complete influence map.
Main Results:
- Decoy influence exhibits a highly structured pattern extending beyond known biases.
- A simple model accurately reproduces the decoy influence map and individual variability.
- The three classic decoy effects are unified under a principle of attribute repulsion from rival options.
Conclusions:
- Decision biases arise from a general principle of attribute repulsion, not distinct phenomena.
- This unified model explains correlations between biases and their interrelationships.
- Clarifies the computational origin of widely studied biases in human decision-making.
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