What Prompts Decision Makers to Stop Collecting Relevant Information?

To identify the best possible outcome, decision makers require information. In this video, SI CHEN explores information acquisition strategy and seeks to pinpoint when and why decision makers conclude that they have done sufficient research. In a laboratory experiment, decision makers are paired with receivers who, though affected by the decision, can only passively observe it. Decision makers have access to information which helps them to learn each option's outcomes for the receivers, while they know which option would benefit themselves. Combining the experimental outcomes with a theoretical model, Chen observes that decision makers tend to cease looking for more information when they come across information supporting a selfish behavior, but tend to continue and "search for excuses" to behave selfishly when this is not the case. Highlighting the decision makers' autonomy in information acquisition, the work shows that further research on information acquisition strategy will play a key role in our understanding of decision making.