Choice-supportive bias (post-purchase rationalization)

Biological Parallel

Female bower birds exhibit choice-supportive bias after selecting mates. Males construct elaborate decorated bowers to attract females, who inspect multiple sites before choosing. Once a female mates at a particular bower, she shows enhanced preference for that bower's specific decorating style (blue vs. yellow objects, arrangement patterns) when tested later—even when experimentally presented with objectively superior displays. The post-choice preference shift helps maintain pair bonds but can lock females into suboptimal mate choices.