Justifying Choices by Choosing the Appropriate Set of Options

Abstract

Individuals often use justification and find reasons in order to justify their choices both for themselves and for others. They use justification not only by choosing the options in each set but also by choosing the right set. The aim of this paper is to present a model that incorporates the above feature in individual's decision making. We argue that if inferring the preference is the only purpose, our model has more advantages than exiting models. Finally, for the model to be testable, we present its characterizing axiom and show that it is the necessary and sufficient condition for the new model.

Keywords

• justification constraint
• cognitive constraint
• revealed preferences
• rational behavior
• justifiable choice
• two stages choice.