Me, Myself and My Choices: The Influence of Private Self Awareness on Choice

This article examines the impact of private self-awareness on consumer decision making. In four studies, the authors show that the ease of preference formation accompanying private self-awareness makes people more willing and able to rely on their personal preference weights. As the authors predict, privately self-aware consumers are less inclined to opt for a varied choice set (study 1) and are less likely to select compromise options (studies 2 and 3), unless they find that it is too difficult to construct their personal preferences (study 4).