The Phoenix, the Rational Consumer and Other Mytho-Logical Creatures

Preference are not static, and individuals make relative comparisons between the alternatives available in the choice-set. Numerous theories have focused upon evaluative “abnormalities” such as compromise-effect (Dhar et al. 2004), presentation-order effects (Hogarth&Einhorn 1992), and preference reflection (Schneider&Lopes 1986). This paper explores all of the above with the goal of empirically testing some key-assumptions advanced by the literature, deepening the understanding and measurement of these mechanisms, and providing useful managerial implications. We investigate on a large consumer sample how preference may be manipulated by the choice-context, considering what happens when a new option enters the choice-set, analysing a variety of choice-sets and products. Results provide a systematic analysis of how choice-sets should be crafted and presented to direct preferences towards a desired direction. The presentation-order of alternatives affects the size of evaluative “distortion”, whilst their characteristics (Praktanis/Farquhar 1992) impact the direction, although differently for different attribute-combinations. Product-category, on the contrary, does not appear to be key to understanding choice behaviour. The main theoretical suggestions are therefore supported, but new findings emerge which need to be addressed by future research.