Aspiration formation and satisficing in isolated and competitive search

We experimentally explore individual and interactive decision making ina sequential search task and test whether generally accepted principles ofbounded rationality (aspiration formation, satisficing, and aspiration adjustment)adequately explain the observed search behavior. Subjects can, at acost, employ screening and selection methods facilitating their search and revealingtheir aspirations. The majority of subjects seems to follow the singlethreshold heuristic after extensive experimentation. Contrary to popular theoriesof sequential search, aspiration levels are set below the maximum valueof all previously inspected alternatives. In a competitive search subjects tendto experiment less before engaging in satisficing and generally state lower aspirations.Finally, systematic satisficing seems to significantly enhance payoffs.