American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Option Awareness: The Psychology of What We Consider
American Economic Review
vol. 106,
no. 5, May 2016
(pp. 425–29)
Abstract
The standard economic view suggests that people will commit an action if its expected benefits outweigh its costs. But before people weigh the costs and benefits of an action, what affects whether they think of the action in the first place? We argue that actions are more likely to enter into consideration when they are cognitively accessible. We describe three psychological parameters that influence accessibility: automatic assumptions, identity, and perceptions of privacy. These parameters make it possible to identify new interventions for behavior change.Citation
Shah, Anuj K., and Jens Ludwig. 2016. "Option Awareness: The Psychology of What We Consider." American Economic Review, 106 (5): 425–29. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20161098Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
- D11 Consumer Economics: Theory