Let's be Honest about the Attraction Effect
Joel Huber, John Payne and Christopher Puto reply to Frederick, Lee and Baskin and to Yang and Lynn, who argue that the conditions for obtaining the attraction effect are so restrictive that its practical validity should be questioned. They place the asymmetric dominance effect in its historical context as a test of an assumption of rational choice theory, and argue that the finding remains robust because it holds when studies are essentially replicated. They then identify factors that reduce and increase the effect, position it within the debate over whether preferences are constructed or merely revealed, and conclude that researchers measuring values and choice architects trying to shape them must be sensitive to the context-dependent properties of choice.
Joel Huber, John Payne and Christopher Puto reply to Frederick, Lee and Baskin and to Yang and Lynn, who argue that the conditions for obtaining the attraction effect are so restrictive that its practical validity should be questioned. They place the asymmetric dominance effect in its historical context as a test of an assumption of rational choice theory, and argue that the finding remains robust because it holds when studies are essentially replicated. They then identify factors that reduce and increase the effect, position it within the debate over whether preferences are constructed or merely revealed, and conclude that researchers measuring values and choice architects trying to shape them must be sensitive to the context-dependent properties of choice.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-10-28.
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Huber, J., Payne, J. W., & Puto, C. P. (2014). Let's be honest about the attraction effect. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(4), 520-525. doi:10.1509/jmr.14.0208.