The study examines the relative merits of a noncompatibility and a restructuring explanation of the recurrent empirical finding that a prominent attribute looms larger in choices than in judgments. Pairs of equally attractive options were presented to 72 undergraduates who were assigned to six conditions in which they performed (1) only preference judgments or choices, (2) preference judgments or choices preceded by judgments of attractiveness of attribute levels, or (3) preference judgments or choices accompanied by think-aloud reports. The results replicated (...) the prominence efTect for choices, but a prominence effect was also found for preference judgments. In accordance with the restructuring explanation, the think-aloud protocols indicated that options were more often restructured in choices than in preference judgments. However, restructuring could not explain the prominence effect observed for preference judgments. A modified compatibility hypothesis is offered as an alternative explanation. (shrink)

Several studies have shown that preference is not necessarily synonymous with choice. In particular, the most preferred object from a set of objects presented in a non—choice context is not necessarily chosen when the same objects are options in a choice situation (Lichtenstein & Slovic, 1971, 1973; Tversky, Sattah, & Slovic, 1988) . Our research on the choice—preference discrepancy replicates these findings and thus bears some resemblance to the study by Tversky, Sattah, and Slovic (1988). Two competing explanations are tested.

What exactly is the unconscious? Although this question has not been sufficiently addressed, the notion of the unconscious is often used in philosophy, literary and cultural theory, and of course psychology, as if it provided a relatively solid foundation or basis for the stories we tell about our culture and ourselves. This article is part of a larger project in which I argue that ‘the unconscious’ is not a basis for our narratives of self and culture, but is, itself, a (...) narrative development - a way of organizing, and thus creating, knowledge. In my discussion, here, of HegeI and Nietzsche, I concur with the supposition that something like the unconscious appeared in Nietzsche’s work (while being absent from Hegel’s); but instead of maintaining that Nietzsche discovered this principle, I suggest that he invented it. More specifically, Nietzsche needed a narrative principle that would help free cultural values that he thought important from their ‘entrapment’ in the Hegelian dialectic.Qu’est au juste I’inconscient? Malgré son indéterminité, la notion d’inconscient est souvent utilisée en philosophie, dans la théorie culturelle et littéraire, et évidemment en psychologie, comme si elle pouvait servir de fondement è la narration culturelle et personnelle. Cet article s’insère dans un projet plus large qui cherche à montrer que “I’inconscient” ne peux servir de fondement aux narrations de soi et de la culture, mais qu’il représente lui-même un développement narratif - une fatçon d’organiser et, de ce fait, de créer la connaissance. Dans la présente discussion sur Hegel et Nietzsche, je concède que I’inconscient est apparu dans l’oeuvre de Nietzsche (alors qu’elle est absente de l’oeuvre de Hegel); mais loin de I’avoir découvert, je prétend que Nietzsche I’a inventé. En effet, ce dernier devait recourir à un principe narratif qui libérerait les valeurs culturelles qu’il croyait importantes de leur emprisonnement dans la dialectique hégélienne. (shrink)