When people make complex or long decisions, such as buying a car, they tend to successively explore their options. This includes what information to focus on, as well as choices between attributes and alternatives. For example, when people narrow down their options, they often tend to screen alternatives on the basis of a subset of attributes and then compare alternatives. Choice architects may not only break down complex decisions into multiple stages to make the process easier, they can also work with an understanding of successive decision making by facilitating certain comparisons at different stages of the choice process (Johnson et al., 2012).
References
Johnson, E. J., Shu, S. B., Dellaert, B. G.C., Fox, C. R., Goldstein, D. G., Häubl, G., Larrick, R. P., Payne, J. W., Peters, E., Schkade, D., Wansink, B., & Weber, E. U. (2012), Beyond nudges: Tools of a choice architecture, Marketing Letters, 23, 487-504.