| Summary: | When faced with a
decision, people collect information to help them decide. Though it may seem
unnecessary, people often continue to search for information about alternatives
after they have already chosen an option, even if this choice is irreversible
(e.g., checking out other cars after just purchasing one). While previous
post-decision search studies focused on “one-shot” decisions and highlighted
its irrational aspects, here we explore the possible benefits of post-decision
search in the long run. We use a simple search task in which participants
repeatedly decide whether to select the current alternative or continue to
search for a better alternative. In a preliminary study we find that
participants indeed conduct post-decision search even in unique environments,
where information about forgone options cannot be used in future choices. In
the main studies exposure to post-decision information was manipulated directly
in unique environments, and was found to lead to better performance. The source
of the observed improvement was further investigated with an explicit strategy
elicitation methodology. We find that following exposure to post-decision
information, people collect more data before generating thresholds. Thus,
although post-decision search in unique environments might appear redundant,
our results suggest it can help decision makers to modify their strategy and
improve their future choices.
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