Semantics Meets Attractiveness: Choice by Salience

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Abstract
We describe a context-sensitive model of choice, in which the selection process is shaped not only by the attractiveness of items but also by their semantics (‘salience’). Items are ranked according to a binary relation of salience, and a linear order is associated to each item. The selection of a unique element from a menu is justified by one of the linear orders associated to the most salient items in the menu. The general model provides a structured explanation for any behavior, and allows us to model a notion of ‘moodiness’ of the decision maker, typical of choices requiring as many distinct rationales as items. Asymptotically, all choices are moody. We single out a model of linear salience, in which the order encoding semantics is transitive and complete. Choices rationalizable by linear salience can only exhibit non-conflicting violations of WARP. Numerical estimates show the sharp selectivity of this testable model.

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