When individuals obtain information about choice alternatives in a set one attribute at a time, they rapidly identify a leading alternative. Although previous research has established that individuals then distort incoming information, it is unclear whether distortion occurs through favoring of...

We introduce a new statistical procedure for the identification of unobserved categories that vary between individuals and in which objects may span multiple categories. This procedure can be used to analyze data from a proposed sorting task data in which individuals may simultaneously assign...

Why, during a decision between new alternatives, do people bias their evaluation of new information to support a tentatively preferred option? We test three decision process goals as the potential drivers of such predecisional distortion of information: (a) to reduce the effort of integrating...

Leader-driven primacy in consumer choice uses initial product information to install a targeted brand as the early leader. Then the biased evaluation of subsequent attributes builds support for that brand. The end result is that the manipulation of information order impacts the proportion of...

Consumers generally establish a preference for one product early in a decision process. When this preference does not include consideration of product prices, the currently preferred product is called the benefits leader. This article proposes that consumers who switch to a cheaper product after...

This article examines the influence that emerging preferences (i.e., leaders) have on predecisional information search. We consider two possibilities. First, decision makers may seek information they expect will support their leader (leader-supporting search). Second, decision makers may seek...

In addition to deciding whether to buy an item, consumers can often decide when they buy an item. This article links the speed with which adults acquire items to the first letter of their childhood surname. We find that the later in the alphabet the first letter of one’s childhood surname, the...