Marketing Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
12-2008
Publication Source
Marketing Letters
Volume
19
Issue
3/4
Start Page
255
Last Page
267
DOI
10.1007/s11002-008-9039-0
Abstract
Choice models in marketing and economics are generally derived without specifying the underlying cognitive process of decision making. This approach has been successfully used to predict choice behavior. However, it has not much to say about such aspects of decision making as deliberation, attention, conflict, and cognitive limitations and how these influence choices. In contrast, sequential sampling models developed in cognitive psychology explain observed choices based on assumptions about cognitive processes that return the observed choice as the terminal state. We illustrate three advantages of this perspective. First, making explicit assumptions about underlying cognitive processes results in measures of deliberation, attention, conflict, and cognitive limitation. Second, the mathematical representations of underlying cognitive processes imply well documented departures from Luce’s Choice Axiom such as the similarity, compromise, and attraction effects. Third, the process perspective predicts response time and thus allows for inference based on observed choices and response times. Finally, we briefly discuss the relationship between these cognitive models and rules for statistically optimal decisions in sequential designs.
Copyright/Permission Statement
“The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11002-008-9039-0”.
Keywords
Luce’s axiom, choice models, diffusion models, race models, human information, processing, response time, optimal decision making, likelihood based inference
Recommended Citation
Otter, T., Johnson, J., Rieskamp, J., Allenby, G. M., Brazell, J. D., Diederich, A., Hutchinson, W., MacEachern, S., Ruan, S., & Townsend, J. (2008). Sequential Sampling Models of Choice: Some Recent Advances. Marketing Letters, 19 (3/4), 255-267. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11002-008-9039-0
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.