The tell-tale look: viewing time, preferences, and prices.

ABSTRACT: Even the simplest choices can prompt decision-makers to balance their preferences against other, more pragmatic considerations like price. Thus, discerning people's preferences from their decisions creates theoretical, empirical, and practical challenges. The current paper addresses these challenges by highlighting some specific circumstances in which the amount of time that people spend examining potential purchase items (i.e., viewing time) can in fact reveal their preferences. Our model builds from the gazing literature, in a purchasing context, to propose that the informational value of viewing time depends on prices. Consistent with the model's predictions, four studies show that when prices are absent or moderate, viewing time provides a signal that is consistent with a person's pref

SUBMITTER: Gunia BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4291227 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature