Resumen de Choosing together from a large assortment: an investigation on consumer dyadic decision
We live in a world where people constantly choose products with other people. Despite its frequency, not much attention has been paid to collective consumer decisions. Additionally, our modern society is characterized by an overabundance of choices, which brings a set of challenges to consumers. The present thesis attempts to investigate how a group of two people choose when there are many alternatives available, and compare it with individual decision. Five lab studies and one field experiment reported along two chapters show that choosing from a large assortment can be less harmful when the selection is made by a dyad.
The first chapter compares dyads and individuals while choosing from either small or large assortments, and found that dyads are less affected by an increase in the size of choice set in what concerns selection difficulty and motivation to buy or choose. This is explained by the fact that, in order to maintain the group harmony, dyad members limit their discussion to those alternatives liked by both members, which, when choosing from a large assortment, leads into the consideration of fewer alternatives than when the selection is made by an individual alone.
Chapter two documents that this process of preferences convergence requires dyad members to some sacrifice, which results in the selection of an alternative with a lower subjective value in comparison with the alternative selected by an individual. Finally, an automated method of facial expression recognition revealed that whereas individual decision elicits predominately negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and disgust, dyadic decision, on the contrary, was dominated by the positive emotion of enjoyment.
