Preference reversals between joint and separate evaluations of options: A review and theoretical analysis.

Abstract

Arguably, all judgments and decisions are made in 1 (or some combination) of 2 basic evaluation modes-joint evaluation mode (JE), in which multiple options are presented simultaneously and evaluated comparatively, or separate evaluation mode (SE), in which options are presented in isolation and evaluated separately. This article reviews recent literature showing that people evaluate options differently and exhibit reversals of preferences for options between JE and SE. The authors propose an explanation for the JE/SE reversal based on a principle called the evaluability hypothesis. The hypothesis posits that it is more difficult to evaluate the desirability of values on some attributes than on others and that, compared with easy-to-evaluate attributes, difficult-to-evaluate attributes have a greater impact in JE than in SE. Illinois 60637. Electronic mail may be sent to chris.hsee@gsb.uchicago.edu. 1 SE refers both to (1) situations where different options are presented to and evaluated by different individuals so that each individual sees and evaluates only one option, and to (2) situations where different options are presented to and evaluated by the same individuals at different times so that each individual evaluates only one option at a given time. The former situations are pure SE conditions. The latter situations involve a JE flavor because individuals evaluating a later option may recall the previous option and make a comparison. 576This document

The Influence of Different Investment Horizons on Risk Behavior

“…Participants starting with a five-year investment horizon (first envelope) tend to give higher risk assessments (average over all three assets: 5.46 for one year vs. 5.13 for five year) than the ones starting with a one-year horizon (average over all three assets: 5.11 for one year vs. 4.24 for five years). A Mann-Whitney U test finds the betweensubject differences to be significant in the long-term DAX and Dow Jones assessments (DAX This result is in line with psychological results that show that people behave differently when evaluating decision options either separately or jointly, see Hsee, Loewenstein, Blount and Bazerman (1999) for a theoretical explanation. In their research they differentiate between attributes of decision alternatives that are "easy-to-evaluate" and attributes that are "difficult-to-evaluate".…”

“…This implies that it is especially the attribute "long-run investment horizon" that is difficult-to-evaluate. According to the evaluability hypothesis of Hsee, Loewenstein, Blount and Bazerman (1999) it would be the evaluation of the five-year investment horizon in a joint mode, i.e. in the second envelope that drives differences between the two investment horizons.…”

Wrongness in different relationships: Relational context effects on moral judgment

“…It is possible that relational context was less salient in Study 2: participants were only prompted with the relational context at the beginning of the moral judgment task (whereas in Studies 1 and 3 relational contexts needed to be highlighted for each violation given the within-participants design). Alternatively, this might suggests that relational context impacts moral judgment in somewhat different ways when relational contexts are presented in isolation than when they are presented simultaneously (which would be consistent with findings that joint-and separate-evaluation designs often yield contrasting effects; Hsee et al, 1999). This latter possibility may be an interesting topic for future research.…”

Marketing Strategy for Unusual Brand Differentiation: Trivial Attribute Effect

“…Last, literature reveals that brand differentiation can be obtained by how competing brands are presented and evaluated either separately or jointly which is called the "evaluation mode effect." Hsee, Loewenstein, Blount, and Bazerman (1999) introduce the two types of evaluation modes: separate evaluation and joint evaluation. Separate evaluation describes the evaluation context in which brands are evaluated one at a time.…”

“…Thus, when a brand with trivial attribute is presented and evaluated jointly with another brand without trivial attribute, consumers are easy to identify uniqueness of the brand with trivial attribute, which results in brand differentiation and brand preference. Studies in the evaluation mode literature continue to provide strong empirical evidences that the evaluation mode effect is particularly strong when consumers need to evaluate brands with uncertainty (Chatterjee et al, 2009;Hsee et al, 1999).…”