Valence Asymmetries in Preference: The Case of Attraction Effect

Abstract

We show that the magnitude and direction of the attraction effect is sensitive to the valence of the options considered. We suggest that representation and evaluation of attributes are predictably different in negative domains, where the same attribute that was perceived as a promotion attribute in the positive domain, would be perceived as a prevention attribute in the negative domain. We further suggest that adding a decoy in the negative domains leads to a share increase for the option that is superior on the focal attribute, leading to both an attraction and a repulsion effect. Results from two studies support this prediction.