CHOOSING VERSUS REJECTING OPTIONS AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF DECISION-MAKING

In each of two experiments respondents were asked to narrow a given se t of multiattribute options to a final choice in three successive stag es. Some participants were asked to record which options they would in clude at each stage while others were asked to record which options th ey would exclude at each stage. The choice options in Experiment 1 wer e 24 alternative automobile descriptions, while in Experiment 2 partic ipants were presented with 32 different graduate schools. Consistent w ith the existence of separate criteria for inclusion and exclusion, si gnificantly more options were retained prior to final choice (in Stage s 1 and 2) under exclusion than under inclusion. This finding held bot h for options with and without missing information. Nevertheless, when we examined Stage 3 in each experiment, we found no systematic differ ences between the distribution of final choices in each condition. The se results, along with supplemental data, support a theoretical accoun t in which options about which the decision maker is unsure are retain ed under exclusion but not under inclusion. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons , Ltd.