Less-is-better effect

The less-is-better effect is a type of preference reversal that occurs when a proposition is preferred under joint evaluation, but not separate evaluation. The term was first proposed by Christoper Hsee.

Christopher Hsee demonstrated the effect in a number of experiments, including some which found:

• an expensive $45 scarf was preferred to a cheap $55 coat
• 7 ounces of ice cream overflowing a small cup was preferred to 8 ounces of ice cream in much larger cup
• a dinnerware set with 24 intact pieces was preferred to a set of 24 pieces plus 7 broken pieces

Theoretical causes of the less-is-better effect include:

• counterfactual thinking. A study found that bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists, apparently because silver invites comparison to gold whereas bronze invites comparison to no medal.
• evaluability heuristic and/or fluency heuristic. Hsee hypothesized that subjects evaluated proposals more highly based on attributes which were easier to evaluate (attribute substitution). Another study found that students preferred funny versus artistic posters according to attributes they could verbalize easily, but the preference was reversed when they did not need to explain a reason (see also introspection illusion).
• representativeness heuristic or judgment by prototype. People judge things according to average of a set more easily than size. (see also extension neglect).