糖心TV

David Ronayne (Department of Economics)

Multi-Attribute Decision-by-Sampling

I offer an account of how individuals evaluate multi-attribute alternatives along with empirical evidence. The model extends and develops the single-attribute decision-by-sampling (DbS) model of Stewart et al. (2006). The multi-attribute DbS model of how individuals assign value to multi-attribute alternatives assumes the following two-stage process: 1) The choice set presented to an individual is used as information to update the individual's belief over the total market offerings of that alternative (or product); 2) an alternative within the choice set is then evaluated by a finite series of dominance comparisons between it, the remaining alternatives in the choice set and others drawn from the posterior. The model captures all three of the most well-evidenced multi-attribute context effects: the attraction, compromise and similarity effects. Explaining all three of these effects within the same framework has been a challenge in the decision-making literature. I show how each of these ``big three'' context effects are produced theoretically by the model. I then provide some experimental evidence that tests the model's predictions.

Download Flyer