Elimination by Aspects (EBA), proposed by Amos Tversky in 1972, provides an alternative to Luce's Choice Axiom for multi-alternative choice. Rather than evaluating all options simultaneously, EBA describes choice as a sequential elimination process: the decision maker selects an important attribute (aspect), sets a criterion, and eliminates all alternatives that fail to meet it. This continues until one alternative remains.
The EBA Process
2. Eliminate all alternatives that lack aspect α
3. If one alternative remains: choose it
4. Otherwise: return to step 1 with remaining alternatives
Violations of IIA
EBA naturally produces violations of the Independence from Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) property: adding a new option that is similar to an existing option "steals" more eliminations from the similar option than from dissimilar ones. This correctly predicts the similarity effect (adding a similar option reduces the share of the original more than of dissimilar alternatives) — a violation that Luce's Choice Axiom cannot accommodate.
EBA provides a psychologically plausible account of how people simplify complex multi-attribute decisions through sequential attention to individual attributes. It has influenced models of consumer choice, voting behavior, and satisficing strategies in bounded rationality.