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- Title
Decision Structuring with Phantom Alternatives.
- Authors
Farquhar, Peter H.; Pratkanis, Anthony R.
- Abstract
A phantom alternative is an illusory choice option--it looks real but for some reason is unavailable at the time a decision is made. Phantoms can both help and hinder successful decision making. On the one hand, phantoms can provide useful information on the boundaries of a decision problem and thus help generate new options through a restructuring of the problem. But phantoms can also produce biases, deception, and suboptimal decisions. We argue that phantoms should be considered explicitly in decision structuring rather than being allowed to work their effects surreptitiously. We offer guidelines on recognizing unavailable alternatives, utilizing the information provided by phantoms, counteracting phantom biases, avoiding deception in decision structuring, and guarding against suboptimal decisions.
- Subjects
DECISION making; PROBLEM solving; DECISION theory; TECHNICAL specifications; GUIDELINES; DECEPTION; MANAGEMENT science; CRITICAL thinking; DECISION support systems; MULTIPLE criteria decision making
- Publication
Management Science, 1993, Vol 39, Issue 10, p1214
- ISSN
0025-1909
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1287/mnsc.39.10.1214