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Differences Attract : An Experimental Study of Focusing in Economic Choice

Andersson, Ola ; Carlson, Jim Ingebretsen LU and Wengström, Erik LU (2021) In Economic Journal 131(639). p.2671-2692
Abstract

Several behavioural models of choice assume that decision makers place more weight on attributes where options differ more, an assumption we test in a set of experiments. We find that subjects are more likely to choose an option when we add options increasing the maximal difference in the original option's strongest attribute, suggesting that the decision maker's focus is drawn to attributes with a high spread. Additional experiments corroborate this finding. Still, we document that the focusing effect diminishes when options are presented using numbers instead of graphs or when subjects are forced to wait before submitting their answers.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
C91 - Laboratory, Individual Behavior, D03 - Behavioral, Microeconomics, Underlying Principles, D12 - Consumer Economics, Empirical Analysis
in
Economic Journal
volume
131
issue
639
pages
22 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85126902498
ISSN
0013-0133
DOI
10.1093/ej/ueab032
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Economic Society.
id
d5a49d13-8f2b-4139-bbba-c653282a5925
date added to LUP
2022-12-19 08:29:46
date last changed
2023-01-24 13:45:03
@article{d5a49d13-8f2b-4139-bbba-c653282a5925,
  abstract     = {{<p>Several behavioural models of choice assume that decision makers place more weight on attributes where options differ more, an assumption we test in a set of experiments. We find that subjects are more likely to choose an option when we add options increasing the maximal difference in the original option's strongest attribute, suggesting that the decision maker's focus is drawn to attributes with a high spread. Additional experiments corroborate this finding. Still, we document that the focusing effect diminishes when options are presented using numbers instead of graphs or when subjects are forced to wait before submitting their answers.</p>}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Ola and Carlson, Jim Ingebretsen and Wengström, Erik}},
  issn         = {{0013-0133}},
  keywords     = {{C91 - Laboratory; Individual Behavior; D03 - Behavioral; Microeconomics; Underlying Principles; D12 - Consumer Economics; Empirical Analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{639}},
  pages        = {{2671--2692}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Economic Journal}},
  title        = {{Differences Attract : An Experimental Study of Focusing in Economic Choice}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab032}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ej/ueab032}},
  volume       = {{131}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}