Abstract
An attempt was made to extend a model of preference, known as elimination-by-aspects (Tversky, 1972), to situations involving active search for sequentially available information of varying value. Subjects were instructed to choose the most appropriate one of three possible operating modes in a task simulating supervisory decisions in a AAA system. The data failed to support the EBA model. Instead of searching aspects associated with each alternative in a non-compensatory fashion, as predicted by the model, subjects searched the information set in a compensatory manner. Failure of the model is discussed in terms of three points (a) subject control of information search, (b) sequential information availability, and (c) variability in the value of information across conditions. Consideration of these three points leads to the conclusion that the usefulness of the EBA approach is limited to situations in which the subject has all relevant information available to him before consideration of alternatives.
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