The golden halo of defaults in simple choices

Nikki Sullivan, Alexander Breslav, Samyukta Doré, Matthew Bachman and Scott A. Huettel

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Defaults are pervasive in consumer choice. The authors combine eye-tracking laboratory experiments with cognitive modeling to pinpoint the influence of defaults in the decision process and conduct naturalistic experiments with large preregistered samples to test the limits of defaults on consumer choices. Contrary to previous assumptions, in simple binary choices, default options did not potentiate rapid heuristic-based decisions but instead altered processes of attention and valuation. Model comparison indicated that defaults received a positive boost in value—a “golden halo”—that was large enough to increase hedonic choices when the default was hedonic, but had limited effects for utilitarian defaults or for when defaults were incongruent with background goals. The findings illustrate and quantify the mechanisms through which default options shape subsequent decisions in simple choices. Further, the authors establish boundary conditions for when defaults can and cannot be used to nudge consumer choice.

Keywords: choice architecture; default options; eye tracking; case modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2025-04-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-exp and nep-nud
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Published in Journal of Marketing Research, 30, April, 2025, 62(2), pp. 386 - 404. ISSN: 0022-2437

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:126086

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