Seidl,C.Traub,S.2025-01-312025-01-311996Seidl, C & Traub, S 1996 'Rational Choice and the Relevance of Irrelevant Alternatives' CentER Discussion Paper, vol. 1996-91, Vakgroep CentER, Tilburg.arno: 117836metis: 295827https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/26369Pagination: 24This experimental study investigates the inuence of irrelevant or phantom al- ternatives on subjects' choices in sequential decision making. Using experimental data from 45 subjects, we found that irrelevant alternatives bear significant rele- vance for decision making. We observe that only 38% of our subjects make the same choice after two phantom alternatives, as compared with the same decision problem when analyzed from scratch. Even allowing for a natural error rate as high as 25%, we find that between 40% and 60% of our subjects are led astray by the presence of phantom alternatives. Testing then basic postulates of rational choice, we find moderate violations of contraction monotonicity and static preference consistency, and substantial viola- tions of dynamic preference consistency. Finally we find that subjects exhibiting rational choice behaviour are far less susceptible to dependence on irrelevant alternatives than subjects which violate rational choice behaviour. Rational choice behaviour is thus a good proxy for the independence of a subject's choices of irrelevant alternatives.enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccessIndependence of Irrelevant AlternativesPhantom AlternativesSequential Decision MakingRational ChoiceMultiattribute Decision MakingC91 - Laboratory, Individual BehaviorD46 - Value TheoryD80 - GeneralA14 - Sociology of EconomicsDiscussion paperGeneral rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. - Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. - You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain - You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal" Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.52563724https://research.tilburguniversity.edu/en/publications/26452450-9ecd-45b4-bc45-bfc898e137a2(c) Universiteit van TilburgSeidl, C.Traub, S.