Is choice blindness a case of self-ignorance?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

168 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

When subject to the choice-blindness effect, an agent gives reasons for making choice B, moments after making the alternative choice A. Choice blindness has been studied in a variety of contexts, from consumer choice and aesthetic judgement to moral and political attitudes. The pervasiveness and robustness of the effect is regarded as powerful evidence of self-ignorance. Here we compare two interpretations of choice blindness. On the choice error interpretation, when the agent gives reasons she is in fact wrong about what her choice is. On the choice change interpretation, when the agent gives reasons she is right about what her choice is, but she does not realise that her choice has changed. In this paper, we spell out the implications of the two interpretations of the choice-blindness effect for self-ignorance claims and offer some reasons to prefer choice change to choice error.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages18
JournalSynthese
Early online date28 Sept 2019
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 28 Sept 2019

Keywords

  • Choice blindness
  • Consumer choices
  • Decision making
  • Ignorance
  • Moral attitudes
  • Political attitudes
  • Self-knowledge

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy
  • Social Sciences(all)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Is choice blindness a case of self-ignorance?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this