Broadening the Definition of Decision Making: The Role of Prechoice Screening of Options

Decision theory and research have focused almost exclusively on choice—the selection of the best option from a choice set containing two or more options. Largely overlooked is the question of how those particular options got there in the first place—why them and not others? This article describes a theory, called image theory, about how prechoice screening of options governs the contents of the set from which a choice is made and summarizes empirical tests of the theory. The research results suggest that screening plays a far more important role in decision making than is generally appreciated and that our view of decision making must be broadened accordingly.