Order Preference

Abstract

In 5 experiments we show that choices between bundles of consumption goods exhibit a preference for ‘order’ that cannot be explained on the basis of utility for consumption itself. The first 3 experiments show that this order-preference is strong and produces robust violations of normative properties of decision making; most strikingly dominance. The two final experiments provide evidence that the effect derives specifically from a preference for choice sets that can be encoded in simple terms.