Dual decision processes: Retrieving preferences when some choices are intuitive

Francesco Cerigioni

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Abstract: Evidence from cognitive sciences shows that some choices are conscious and re ect individual prefer- ences while others tend to be intuitive, driven by analogies with past experiences. Under these circum- stances, usual economic modeling might not be valid because not all choices are the consequence of individual tastes. We here propose a behavioral model that can be used in standard economic analysis that formalizes how conscious and intuitive choices arise by presenting a decision maker composed by two systems. One system compares past decision problems with the one the decision maker faces, and it replicates past behavior when the problems are similar enough (Intuitive choices). Otherwise, a second system is activated and preferences are maximized (Conscious choices). We then present a novel method capable of nding conscious choices just from observed behavior and nally, we provide a choice theoretical foundation of the model and discuss its importance as a general framework to study behavioral inertia.

Keywords: Dual Processes; Fast and Slow Thinking; Similarity; Revealed Preferences; Memory; Intuition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 D60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo, nep-mic, nep-neu and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upf:upfgen:1550

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