Product Assortment and Individual Decision Processes
Alexander Chernev reports four experiments on how the number of options in an assortment affects choice, and finds that the effect depends on whether people have clear preferences about product attributes. People with a well-defined ideal tended to prefer larger assortments, and people without one were less drawn to them. When choosing from a large assortment, people with clear preferences screened options selectively, evaluated alternatives one at a time and looked for information that confirmed their initial leanings, while people without clear preferences processed information more thoroughly and compared products attribute by attribute. The abstract gives no sample sizes.
Alexander Chernev reports four experiments on how the number of options in an assortment affects choice, and finds that the effect depends on whether people have clear preferences about product attributes. People with a well-defined ideal tended to prefer larger assortments, and people without one were less drawn to them. When choosing from a large assortment, people with clear preferences screened options selectively, evaluated alternatives one at a time and looked for information that confirmed their initial leanings, while people without clear preferences processed information more thoroughly and compared products attribute by attribute. The abstract gives no sample sizes.
Written from the europe PMC abstract record read 2026-10-22.
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Chernev, A. (2003). Product assortment and individual decision processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(1), 151-162. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.151