Post-decision consolidation over time as a function of gain or loss of an alternative

Post-decision consolidation processes were studied in a two-stage lottery design. School children (1) rated the attractiveness of audiotape head sets, (2) decided for which of two head sets they would like to get a lottery ticket, (3) threw a dice to determine if they got a lottery ticket in the preferred lottery or not, and (4)drew a ticket in the final lottery. Before and after each of these stages ratings were obtained of the attractiveness of the alternatives on four attributes. The results were interpreted in terms of Differentiation and Consolidation Theory. Post-decision consolidation appeared immediately after the outcome of the dice throw. Subjects who won a lottery ticket consolidated their prior decision to a greater degree than those who lost. The effect was so strong for the former group that a pre-decision attractiveness disadvantage was restructured to a post-decision advantage. Folowing the decision, consolidation remained at approximately the level reached immediately after the dice throw for losers and winners, respectively, but with an increasing trend over time for winners. Even following a final loss of an audiotape headset the level of consolidation was maintained.