We introduce and demonstrate a novel experimental method for investigating the accuracy of consumer decision making. The Surplus Identification (S-ID) task exploits techniques from detection theory. Experimental control over surpluses is established by incentivizing participants to adopt a predetermined, objectively defined preference function. Surplus is then manipulated across multiple forced-choice trials in which participants decide whether a product does or does not confer a surplus at a given price. The S-ID task can be used to investigate how precision, bias, and learning vary with multiple properties of prices, attributes, and contexts. We demonstrate the task via a series of experiments that test the ability to apply a weighted adding decision strategy (with equal weights) as the number of product attributes increases. Imprecision increases sharply with additional attributes and larger trade-offs between them. Participants display persistent biases across the price range. These vary systematically with the number of attributes, implying a precision-bias trade-off. The findings have implications for models of multiattribute choice and for consumer policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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剩余识别任务和对多属性消费者选择的限制。

我们介绍并演示了一种新颖的实验方法，用于调查消费者决策的准确性。剩余识别（S-ID）任务利用了检测理论中的技术。通过激励参与者采用预定的，客观定义的偏好函数来建立对盈余的实验控制。然后，在多个强制选择试验中操纵盈余，由参与者决定产品是否以给定的价格提供盈余。S-ID任务可用于调查精度，偏差和学习如何随价格，属性和上下文的多个属性而变化。我们通过一系列实验证明了该任务，这些实验测试了随着产品属性数量的增加而应用加权添加决策策略（具有相等权重）的能力。不精确度随着其他属性以及它们之间更大的折衷而急剧增加。参与者在整个价格范围内表现出持续的偏见。这些随属性的数量而系统地变化，这意味着在精确度-偏置之间进行权衡。这些发现对多属性选择模型和消费者政策都有影响。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。