Do decisions shape preference? Evidence from blind choice
Sharot first author. Participants rated holiday destinations before and after a choice that could not have been guided by existing preference: the options were presented for two milliseconds and the strings shown were in fact nonsense. Preferences shifted after this blind choice, but not when a computer dictated the decision. A later methodological review records that the effect here is significant only on a one-tailed test. No sample size is given.
Sharot first author. Participants rated holiday destinations before and after a choice that could not have been guided by existing preference: the options were presented for two milliseconds and the strings shown were in fact nonsense. Preferences shifted after this blind choice, but not when a computer dictated the decision. A later methodological review records that the effect here is significant only on a one-tailed test. No sample size is given.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-18.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Sharot, T., Velasquez, C. M., & Dolan, R. J. (2010). Do decisions shape preference? Evidence from blind choice. Psychological Science, 21(9), 1231-1235. doi:10.1177/0956797610379235.