Measurements of Rationality: Individual Differences in Information Processing, the Transitivity of Preferences and Decision Strategies.

The first goal of this study was to validate the Rational-Experiential Inventory () and the Cognitive Reflection Test () through checking their relation to the transitivity axiom. The second goal was to test the relation between decision strategies and cognitive style as well as the relation between decision strategies and the transitivity of preferences. The following characteristics of strategies were investigated: requirements for trade-offs, maximization vs. satisficing and option-wise vs. attribute-wise information processing. Respondents were given choices between two multi-attribute options. The options were designed so that the choice indicated which strategy was applied. Both the and the were found to be good predictors of the transitivity of preferences. Respondents who applied compensatory strategies and the maximization criterion scored highly on the and in the , whereas those who applied the satisficing rule scored highly on the but not in the . Attribute-wise information processing was related to low scores in both measurements. Option-wise information processing led to a high transitivity of preferences.