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If you have a choice, you have trouble: Stimulus valence modulates presentation-order effects in preference judgment
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology.
2012 (English)In: Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, ISSN 0894-3257, E-ISSN 1099-0771, Vol. 25, no 1, p. 82-94Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

It is well known that the presentation order of choice options often affects decision outcomes to a significant degree. However, despite the significance and wide occurrence of the effects, they are ignored in most preference models. Furthermore, psychophysical findings of stimulus-magnitude dependent presentation-order effects have not been acknowledged previously in the cognitive literature on preference judgments. Thus, the potential moderating effect of the level of stimulus magnitude (here, valence) on the direction and size of order effects in preference judgment has not been investigated previously. In two experiments, participants (117 and 204, respectively) rated their preference for pairs of everyday-type objects and phenomena (e.g., apple–pear, headache–stomachache). Stimuli were spaced horizontally, and each participant received them in one of two opposite within-pair presentation orders. Participants also rated the stimuli's valence on a scale from very bad to very good. The results showed a positive correlation between the rated valence and the tendency to prefer the first-mentioned (left) stimulus; that is, the effect was greatest, and opposite, for choices between the most attractive and the most unattractive options, respectively. In terms of Hellström's (1979) sensation-weighting model, the positive correlation is caused by a higher weight (i.e., impact on the preference judgment) for the left stimulus than for the right, which is possibly due to the left stimulus being compared to the right. The results suggest that researchers may have failed previously to find important moderators of presentation-order effects in preference judgment due to the failure to use sufficiently attractive or unattractive stimuli.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012. Vol. 25, no 1, p. 82-94
Keywords [en]
feature matching, preference judgment, stimulus valence, word-order effect
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-80938DOI: 10.1002/bdm.714ISI: 000297740600008OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-80938DiVA, id: diva2:558380
Available from: 2012-10-03 Created: 2012-10-03 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Valence-Level Dependent Presentation-Order Effects in Preference Judgments
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Valence-Level Dependent Presentation-Order Effects in Preference Judgments
2011 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Reversal of the stimulus-presentation order often affects the outcome in paired stimulus comparison. Psychophysicists have found that the size and direction of the order effects depend on the compared stimuli’s magnitudes, but this magnitude dependence does not seem to have been recognized previously in cognitive research on preference judgment. The main objective of the present doctoral thesis was to investigate whether analogous valence-level dependent order effects exist for preference judgments of aesthetic preference of visual and of auditory stimuli (Study I) and of everyday objects and phenomena (e.g., Apple-Pear, Headache-Stomachache) denoted by labels and presented in a simple survey-questionnaire format (Studies II-III). An additional objective was to investigate if potential valence-level dependent order effects in Studies I-III could be accounted for using Hellström’s (1979, 2000) sensation weighting (SW) model. In Study I, there were valence-level dependent order effects favoring the second of two pleasant stimuli but the first of two unpleasant stimuli presented successively, but there were none for stimuli presented simultaneously. In Study II, there were valence-level dependent word-order effects (WOEs) favoring the left and first-read of two attractive stimuli but the right and last-read of two unattractive ones. Results were well accounted for using the SW model with a higher weight (i.e., greater impact on the comparison) for the second and the left stimulus in Studies I and II, respectively, and the valence level varying from low to high. Results of Study III indicate that the valence-level dependent WOEs in Study II were not due to the spatial positioning (left-right) of the stimuli but to the comparison being directed; the first read stimulus was compared to the second read, yielding a higher weight for the first read stimulus. The present results demonstrate robust order effects large enough to be of theoretical as well as practical relevance.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 2011. p. 73
Keywords
Preference judgment, order effects, stimulus valence, sensation weighting, feature matching, comparison direction
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-54202 (URN)978-91-7447-204-2 (ISBN)
Public defence
2011-02-25, David Magnussonsalen (U31), Frescati Hagväg 8, Stockholm, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Note

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 2: In press. Paper 3: Manuscript.

Available from: 2011-01-26 Created: 2011-01-26 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved

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Englund, Mats P.Hellström, Åke

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