Comparison-specific preferences: The attentional dilution effect for delay and risk

Abstract

In cross-modal decisions, the options differ on many attributes, and in uni-modal decisions, they differ on few. We supply new theory and data to understand how discounting for both delay and risk differs between cross-modal and uni-modal decisions. We propose the attentional dilution effect in decision making in which (a) allocation of limited attention to an attribute determines that attribute's decision weight and (b) the attention an attribute receives is increasing in the difference between options on that attribute and decreasing in the number of other attributes that differ between options. We introduce the random order delayed compensation method and conduct two experiments focusing on delayed and risky receipt of consumer goods. Consistent with the attentional dilution effect, we find that in this domain, patience and risk tolerance are generally higher in cross-modal than uni-modal decisions. We suggest that, since many real-world choices are cross-modal, people may be more patient and risk-tolerant in their everyday life than is suggested by standard lab experiments.