What You Get Is What You See: How the Evidence We Obtain Through Our Behavior Shapes Our Perception of the World

Abstract

One of the most important sources of information are the first-hand experiences we engage in. By interacting with someone we can learn whether our first impression of them was accurate or not. These first-hand experiences, however, are directly dependent on the choices we make. In his dissertation, Chris investigates the influence that choice behavior has in whether people overcome false first impressions or not. More specifically, he demonstrates that frequent positive outcomes seduce people to stick with a supposedly great option, their “winning horse”, and neglect to try out alternatives sufficiently. But in doing so they never learn about alternatives, and they never manage to overcome false first impressions.