Direction of comparison, expected feature correlation, and the set‐size effect in preference judgment

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Abstract
Consumers often attempt to form a preference between two brands described by differing amounts of information. A set‐size effect in preference judgment is reflected by a preference for the brand described by the larger set of features (the large‐set brand) when the features are all favorable, or a preference for the brand described by the smaller set of features (the small‐set brand) when the features are all unfavorable. Two experiments demonstrate that the set‐size effect in preference judgment is more pronounced when information about the large‐set brand is presented after (vs. before) the presentation of information about the small‐set brand. This effect is reduced when the features unique to the large‐set brand are expected to be correlated with the features shared by both brands (Experiment 2). The findings imply that the amount of information available for judgment (set size), the manner in which features of two objects are compared (direction of comparison; see Tversky, 1977), and the manner in which consumers respond to missing information jointly influence judgmental extremity. Implications of the results for understanding judgment based on limited evidence are discussed.

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