Differences Attract : An Experimental Study of Focusing in Economic Choice
(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.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d5a49d13-8f2b-4139-bbba-c653282a5925
- author
- Andersson, Ola ; Carlson, Jim Ingebretsen LU and Wengström, Erik LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-10
- 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
- 2024-08-09 02:35:03
@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}}, }