Modulators of Preference Reversals in Aesthetic Choices

Abstract

Understanding the factors that produce choice reversals is of interest to researchers and marketers alike. I established a reversal paradigm for studying reversals in subjective choices between pairs of paintings. Participants chose between a pair of average-beauty paintings both before and after a contrast manipulation. In a reversal block, some contrast manipulation trials aimed to weaken preference for the chosen painting by pairing it with more-beautiful paintings, and others aimed to strengthen preference for the nonchoice painting by pairing it with less-beautiful paintings. Across a set of experiments more reversals occurred in reversal (vs. control) blocks, as anticipated, though this reversal effect was not significant in some experiments. I also identified several important moderators of reversals. Participants who reversed tended to have lower initial relative preference ratings and initial choice identification accuracy than consistent participants, and they also selected more higher-beauty choices during the contrast trials. Overall, the present study successfully induced reversals in subjective choices and identified several factors that create reversals. The stage is now set for future studies to refine the reversal paradigm, to use the paradigm to establish clearer links between choice reversals and their causes, and to attempt to generalize the paradigm to more applied contexts.