Publications
Publications
- 2025
A Cognitive Theory of Reasoning and Choice
By: Pedro Bordalo, Nicola Gennaioli, Giacomo Lanzani and Andrei Shleifer
Abstract
We present a theory of decisions in which attention to the features of choice options is determined by the decision maker's categorization of the current choice problem in a set of problems she solved in the past. Categorization depends on goal-relevant as well as contextual problem-level features. The model yields systematic heterogeneity in attention and choice in a given problem based on different past experiences, rigidity of choices when categorization does not change despite new data, and discontinuous shifts when changes in bottom-up salient features cause re-categorization. The model unifies major puzzles and framing effects in riskless, statistical, and lottery choice based on heterogenous and unstable mental representations.
Keywords
Citation
Bordalo, Pedro, Nicola Gennaioli, Giacomo Lanzani, and Andrei Shleifer. "A Cognitive Theory of Reasoning and Choice." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 33466, February 2025.