Experimental examinations and a modeling study of multiattribute decision making

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Three much-studied findings regarding context-dependent choice warrant special attention since they constitute violations of axioms that are fundamental to rational choice. These findings include the attraction effect, the similarity effect, and the compromise effect. In multiattribute decision-making, all these effects occur with the addition of a third alternative to a two-alternative choice set. One hundred and forty-four undergraduates participated in an experiment wherein twenty hypothetical purchase problems were presented. The problems comprised three alternatives described along two attributes. Significant effects resulted from manipulating the third alternative for choice proportions, confidence ratings, and reaction time. These results support our stochastic comparison-grouping model of multiattribute, multialternative choice processes.We propose a stochastic comparison-grouping theory of multialternative decision-making to explain the three context-induced violations of rati … More onal choice. The attraction and similarity effects are explained by stochastic comparison grouping, according to which similar alternatives are compared more often than dissimilar ones. The compromise effect is explained by the assumption that goodness is perceived according to a basic psychophysical function, in addition to the comparison grouping mechanism.In order to further test the theoretical assumptions of our model, we formulated an experiment to study the role of eye movement in multiattribute, multialternative processes. We used an eye movement recorder to examine the underlying cognitive process of these context effects in multiattribute decision-making. Seventeen undergraduates participated in an experiment where they were presented with twelve hypothetical purchase problems comprising three alternatives described along two attributes. Significant effects resulted from manipulating the third alternative for choice proportions, fixation duration, and frequency of saccade. These results support our stochastic comparison-grouping model of multiattribute decision-making processes. Less