The Phantom Decoy Effect in Perceptual Decision Making

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12166607
AutoresJennifer S Trueblood (0000-0002-9019-6574, Vanderbilt University Nashville TN USA, autor correspondente), Jonathan C Pettibone (0000-0002-3766-7293, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville IL USA)
Ano2015
Volume30
Fascículo2
Páginas157-167
Data de publicação2015-12-29
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Behavioral Decision Making (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0894-3257 • E-ISSN: 1099-0771
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/bdm.1930
OpenAlexW2211624619
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas41

A phantom decoy is an alternative that is superior to another “target” option but is unavailable at the time of choice. In value‐based decisions involving phantom decoys (e.g., consumer choices), individuals often show increased preference for the similar, inferior target option over a non‐dominated competitor alternative. Unlike value‐based decisions that are driven by subjective goals, perceptual decisions typically have an outside criterion that defines the goal of the task (e.g., target is present or absent). Despite their obvious differences, past research has documented a number of commonalities between both types of decisions. In a set of three experiments, we examine the influence of phantom options on simple perceptual decisions and point out a critical difference between perceptual and value‐based decisions. Our results show that in perceptual choice, participants prefer competitor options to target options, the opposite of the pattern typically found in consumer choice. We use the results of the experiments to examine the predictions of four different models of context effects including loss aversion and dynamic, preference accumulation models. We find that accumulation models provide the best explanation for our results as well as being able to generalize to other context effects. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Choice set · Cognitive psychology · Consumer choice · Context (archaeology · Decoy · Econometrics · Economics · Imaging phantom · Machine learning · Microeconomics · Perception · Preference · Set (abstract data type · Task (project management · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology