Pairwise Beats All-at-Once: Behavioral Gains from Sequential Choice Presentation

TL;DR

This paper proposes that presenting choices sequentially rather than all at once improves consumer decision-making by reducing cognitive overload and promoting rational choices, supported by a theoretical model and implications for digital markets.

Contribution

It introduces the Sequential Rationality Hypothesis and extends the random attention model to explain how sequential presentation enhances decision rationality.

Findings

Sequential presentation reduces cognitive overload.

Consumers make more consistent choices with sequential exposure.

Theoretical model supports policy and platform design improvements.

Abstract

This paper presents the Sequential Rationality Hypothesis, which argues that consumers are better able to make utility-maximizing decisions when products appear in sequential pairwise comparisons rather than in simultaneous multi-option displays. Although this involves higher cognitive costs than the all-at-once format, the current digital market, with its diverse products listed by review ratings, pricing, and paid products, often creates inconsistent choices. The present work shows that preparing the list sequentially supports more rational choice, as the consumer tries to minimize cognitive costs and may otherwise make an irrational decision. If the decision remains the same on both offers, then that is a consistent preference. The platform uses this approach by reducing cognitive costs while still providing the list in an all-at-once format rather than sequentially. To show how sequential exposure reduces cognitive overload and prevents context-dependent errors, we develop a bounded attention model and extend the monotonic attention rule of the random attention model to theorize the sequential rational hypothesis. Using a theoretical design with common consumer goods, we test these hypotheses. This theoretical model helps policymakers in digital market laws, behavioral economics, marketing, and digital platform design consider how choice architectures may improve consumer choices and encourage rational decision-making.