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choices
A third option changes what you choose entirely.
A 1982 study found that adding a clearly inferior third option increases the likelihood that people will choose the original preferred option.
The decoy effect uses an irrelevant option to make one of the primary choices seem more attractive. You don't choose based on absolute value, but based on a comparison to the decoy.
Your choices are often designed to look better by the marketing around them.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Huber, Payne, and Puto, 1982
- What the check found
- Huber, Payne, and Puto (1982) is the seminal paper establishing the attraction effect (decoy effect). While accurate, the provided reference material did not contain this specific study.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.