STOPPING CRITERIA IN SEQUENTIAL CHOICE

The essential decision in sequential choice is not which alternative t o choose but when to stop acquiring additional information and commit to the leading alternative. Two studies investigate individuals' stopp ing strategies. The key difference between the two studies is whether the experimenter or subjects controlled the order in which information was acquired. We hypothesize that subjects' stopping criteria do not remain fixed, but are sensitive to acquisition costs and to the achiev ed progress during the choice. Across both studies 21 of 26 subjects e xhibited significant adaptation. We also found an effort-reducing heur istic, stopping after all attributes in a predetermined set of core at tributes had been acquired. As expected use of this Core Attributes he uristic was greater when subjects controlled the order in which inform ation was acquired. Both adaptation and the Core Attributes heuristic are compatible with the adaptive view of decision making and with the cost-benefit framework more generally. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.