IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/mateco/v109y2023ics0304406823001064.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Context-sensitive rationality: Choice by salience

Author

Listed:
  • Giarlotta, Alfio
  • Petralia, Angelo
  • Watson, Stephen

Abstract

We describe a context-sensitive approach to individual choice, in which the explanation is provided by a family of linear orders indexed by all available items. Selection from a menu is then recovered by the classical maximization paradigm, subject to the constraint that the justifying rationale must be indexed by an item of the menu. This approach allows us to pursue two complementary goals: (1) a fine classification of all possible choices into classes of rationality, and (2) a bounded rationality model based on an ordinal notion of salience. Concerning (1), we refine the context-free model of rationalization by multiple rationales, partitioning the class of all choice functions on n items into n classes of rationality. The least rational class is expressive of a moody behavior, which is rare for small n, but prevailing for large n. Concerning (2), we enrich our framework by a binary relation of salience, which guides the selection process. Upon requiring that all rationales associated to equally salient items coincide, choice is explained by appealing to the unique linear order indexed by a maximally salient item of the menu. Choice by salience is a specification of choice with limited attention. Numerical estimates show the sharp selectivity of this model of bounded rationality.

Suggested Citation

  • Giarlotta, Alfio & Petralia, Angelo & Watson, Stephen, 2023. "Context-sensitive rationality: Choice by salience," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:mateco:v:109:y:2023:i:c:s0304406823001064
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmateco.2023.102913
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304406823001064
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jmateco.2023.102913?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simonson, Itamar, 1989. "Choice Based on Reasons: The Case of Attraction and Compromise Effects," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(2), pages 158-174, September.
    2. Paola Manzini & Marco Mariotti, 2012. "Categorize Then Choose: Boundedly Rational Choice And Welfare," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(5), pages 1141-1165, October.
    3. Gil Kalai & Ariel Rubinstein & Ran Spiegler, 2002. "Rationalizing Choice Functions By Multiple Rationales," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(6), pages 2481-2488, November.
    4. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2012. "Salience Theory of Choice Under Risk," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1243-1285.
    5. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Salience and Consumer Choice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(5), pages 803-843.
    6. Cassie Mogilner & Tamar Rudnick & Sheena S. Iyengar, 2008. "The Mere Categorization Effect: How the Presence of Categories Increases Choosers' Perceptions of Assortment Variety and Outcome Satisfaction," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(2), pages 202-215, June.
    7. Bhattacharya, Mihir & Mukherjee, Saptarshi & Sonal, Ruhi, 2021. "Frame-based stochastic choice rule," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Rohan Dutta & Sean Horan, 2015. "Inferring Rationales from Choice: Identification for Rational Shortlist Methods," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 179-201, November.
    9. Giacomo Lanzani, 2022. "Correlation Made Simple: Applications to Salience and Regret Theory [“Regret in Decision Making under Uncertainty,”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 137(2), pages 959-987.
    10. Alfio Giarlotta & Angelo Petralia & Stephen Watson, 2022. "On the number of non-isomorphic choices on four elements," Papers 2206.06840, arXiv.org.
    11. Amartya K. Sen, 1971. "Choice Functions and Revealed Preference," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(3), pages 307-317.
    12. Giarlotta, Alfio & Petralia, Angelo & Watson, Stephen, 2022. "Bounded rationality is rare," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    13. Cassie Mogilner & Tamar Rudnick & Sheena Iyengar, 2008. "The Mere Categorization Effect: How the Presence of Categories Increases Choosers' Perceptions of Assortment Variety," Economics Working Papers 0070, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science.
    14. Jacob Goldin & Daniel Reck, 2020. "Revealed-Preference Analysis with Framing Effects," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(7), pages 2759-2795.
    15. Huber, Joel & Payne, John W & Puto, Christopher, 1982. "Adding Asymmetrically Dominated Alternatives: Violations of Regularity and the Similarity Hypothesis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(1), pages 90-98, June.
    16. Chernev, Alexander, 2003. "When More Is Less and Less Is More: The Role of Ideal Point Availability and Assortment in Consumer Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 170-183, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alfio Giarlotta & Angelo Petralia & Stephen Watson, 2022. "Semantics meets attractiveness: Choice by salience," Papers 2204.08798, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2022.
    2. Davide Carpentiere & Angelo Petralia, 2023. "Identification of consideration sets from choice data," Papers 2302.00978, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    3. Georgios Gerasimou, 2016. "Partially dominant choice," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 61(1), pages 127-145, January.
    4. Andrew Ellis & Yusufcan Masatlioglu, 2022. "Choice with Endogenous Categorization [The Adaptive Nature of Human Categorization]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(1), pages 240-278.
    5. Tserenjigmid, Gerelt, 2019. "Choosing with the worst in mind: A reference-dependent model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 631-652.
    6. Belton, Cameron A. & Lunn, Peter D., 2020. "Smart choices? An experimental study of smart meters and time-of-use tariffs in Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Castillo, Geoffrey, 2020. "The attraction effect and its explanations," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 123-147.
    8. Bakó, Barna & Neszveda, Gábor, 2020. "The Achilles’ heel of Salience theory and a way to fix it," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    9. Özgür Kıbrıs & Yusufcan Masatlioglu & Elchin Suleymanov, 2023. "A theory of reference point formation," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 75(1), pages 137-166, January.
    10. de Haan, Thomas & van Veldhuizen, Roel, 2015. "Willpower depletion and framing effects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 47-61.
    11. Dahremöller, Carsten & Fels, Markus, 2015. "Product lines, product design, and limited attention," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 437-456.
    12. Maltz, Amnon & Rachmilevitch, Shiran, 2021. "A model of menu-dependent evaluations and comparison-aversion," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Ronayne, David & Brown, Gordon D.A., 2016. "Multi-attribute decision by sampling: An account of the attraction, comprimise and similarity effects," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1124, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    14. Guy Barokas & Burak Ünveren, 2022. "Impressionable Rational Choice: Revealed-Preference Theory with Framing Effects," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(23), pages 1-19, November.
    15. Yan, Huan & Chang, En-Chung & Chou, Ting-Jui & Tang, Xiaofei, 2015. "The over-categorization effect: How the number of categorizations influences shoppers' perceptions of variety and satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 631-638.
    16. Barna Bakó & Gábor Neszveda & Linda Dezső, 2018. "When irrelevant alternatives do matter. The effect of focusing on loan decisions," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 123-141, January.
    17. Geoffroy de Clippel, 2014. "Behavioral Implementation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 2975-3002, October.
    18. Fabrice Le Lec & Marianne Lumeau & Benoît Tarroux, 2022. "How choice proliferation affects revealed preferences," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 93(2), pages 331-358, September.
    19. Freeman, David J., 2017. "Preferred personal equilibrium and simple choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 165-172.
    20. Eliaz, Kfir & Ok, Efe A., 2006. "Indifference or indecisiveness? Choice-theoretic foundations of incomplete preferences," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 61-86, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:mateco:v:109:y:2023:i:c:s0304406823001064. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jmateco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.