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Predicting what we will like: Asking a stranger can be as good as asking a friend

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  • Eggleston, Casey M.
  • Wilson, Timothy D.
  • Lee, Minha
  • Gilbert, Daniel T.

Abstract

When predicting how much they will like something they have not encountered before, people use three commonsense theories: It is better to have a description of the attitude object than to know how someone else felt about it (“I know better than others”), better to know how a friend felt about it than how a stranger felt (“birds of a feather”), and better to get advice from friends—how much they think we will like it—than to know how they felt about it (“my friends know me”). We present evidence that people endorse these lay theories but also that they overuse them. Sometimes people make better predictions by knowing how a stranger felt than by getting a description of the object, sometimes a stranger is as good as a friend, and sometimes advice is not any better than knowing how someone else felt.

Suggested Citation

  • Eggleston, Casey M. & Wilson, Timothy D. & Lee, Minha & Gilbert, Daniel T., 2015. "Predicting what we will like: Asking a stranger can be as good as asking a friend," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:128:y:2015:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.03.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yaniv, Ilan & Choshen-Hillel, Shoham & Milyavsky, Maxim, 2011. "Receiving advice on matters of taste: Similarity, majority influence, and taste discrimination," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 111-120, May.
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    4. Harvey, Nigel & Fischer, Ilan, 1997. "Taking Advice: Accepting Help, Improving Judgment, and Sharing Responsibility," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 117-133, May.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tuk, Mirjam A. & Verlegh, Peeter W.J. & Smidts, Ale & Wigboldus, Daniël H.J., 2019. "You and I have nothing in common: The role of dissimilarity in interpersonal influence," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 49-60.
    3. Johannes Müller-Trede & Shoham Choshen-Hillel & Meir Barneron & Ilan Yaniv, 2018. "The Wisdom of Crowds in Matters of Taste," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(4), pages 1779-1803, April.
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    5. Wien, Anders Hauge & Peluso, Alessandro M., 2021. "Influence of human versus AI recommenders: The roles of product type and cognitive processes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 13-27.
    6. Blunden, Hayley & Logg, Jennifer M. & Brooks, Alison Wood & John, Leslie K. & Gino, Francesca, 2019. "Seeker beware: The interpersonal costs of ignoring advice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 83-100.

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