4 ms·
The phenomenon is called anchoring[1], and it works like this: the first price we see anchors our thinking about additional information. This is why furniture s
by clarkmoody 11y ago
The phenomenon is called anchoring[1], and it works like this: the first price we see anchors our thinking about additional information. This is why furniture stores have a perpetual sale.
"Oh look, this $2500 sofa is only $1899.99 right now. What a great deal!"
One experiment had respondents use the last two digits of their social security number as the initial price for a bottle of wine or other good. This completely-arbitrary price had a strong correlation with the price they were willing to pay for the item.
The effect is described in greater detail in Thinking, Fast and Slow[3]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring
[2] http://www.inc.com/the-build-network/the-anchoring-effect.html http://www.inc.com/the-build-network/the-anchoring-effect.ht...
[3] http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555 http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...
- boulos 11y agoPredictably irrational by Dan Ariely has a good number of case studies that I think illuminate the topic particularly well: http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/0061353248 Unsurprisingly there's some sort of combo deal to get Thinking Fast and Slow with it.
- pc86 11y agoIf you remove the spaces before that link it will be clickable.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- boulos 11y agoUgh, I always forget that I shouldn't do that here (I move URLs out of the way like this for email) and its been too long to edit. http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/0061353248 http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expande...
- clarkmoody 11y agoMy link [2] actually has a video of Ariely talking about this stuff.
- eru 11y agoI wonder how well the `social security number` anchoring study replicates?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]