Your Text Reports a Study by Shafir, Simon, and Tversky

question 126

Multiple Choice

Your text reports a study by Shafir, Simon, and Tversky (1993) in which participants were asked to consider either Scenario A, involving an attractive offer on a Sony product, or Scenario B, describing attractive offers on both a Sony and an Aiwa product. In each case, participants were asked if they would purchase a product or wait until they learned more about other models. In which condition were participants more likely to say they would wait rather than purchase a product, and why?

• A) Scenario A participants were more likely to wait. They would prefer more options before making a purchase.
• B) Scenario B participants were more likely to wait. Having even two options to consider makes decision making more difficult because of the demands on working memory.
• C) Scenario B participants were more likely to wait. Participants found it difficult to justify choosing one attractive option over another attractive option.
• D) Scenario A participants were more likely to wait. Utility theory suggests that optimal decision making requires more than a single option.

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Definitions:

Eyewitness Memory

The recollection by individuals of events they have witnessed, important in the context of legal investigations, but subject to distortions and inaccuracies.

Confidence and Accuracy

The relationship between an individual's self-assurance in their abilities and the correctness of their outcomes.

Recollections

The action or faculty of remembering something.

Critical Thinking

is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication.