Distortion of Information During Decisions

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Distortion of Information During Decisions Upon having made a choice between alternatives, individuals provided with additional information on the options are more likely to judge it as favoring (disfavoring) the option they selected more (less) than individuals who have not made a choice yet. This tendency to interpret information in a manner consistent with ones choices and decisions is often attributed to individuals' desire to minimize cognitive dissonance. In recent experiments conducted by the PI and co-authors, they find that this same type of distortion occurs even before an alternative has been selected. In essence, the fact that an alternative is judged preferable on the basis of an initial piece of information about the various alternatives (e.g., x is less expensive than y) biases the interpretation of additional information on the alternatives in favor of that option. To the extent that a choice has not been made yet or is not requested, this bias in the interpretation of information cannot be attributed to a desire to minimize cognitive dissonance. The PI outlines a series of experiments to further probe the nature of this bias in information evaluation, attempt to identify its underlying cause or causes, evaluate its prevalence in natural decision making environments and explore possible means of ameliorating the tendency. _???/?` ????%/¥??¢