I'm sort of unsure if that argument makes any sense. Say you're at a restaurant, and they're selling a salad at $600. It's a really good salad, but not $600-sa

I'm sort of unsure if that argument makes any sense. Say you're at a restaurant, and they're selling a salad at $600. It's a really good salad, but not $600-salad. But hey, you're at the restaurant with the realtor you're buying a house from. Combined, the salad and house are $865,300. Would that change your choice of meal? More realistically, people often make the mistake to see money in relative terms where it should be treated in absolute terms. Say you're buing a nice ballpoint pen for $20. On the way out the store, you see a sign that the pen was actually on offer for just $10. Chances are, you'll invest the two minutes to get the rebate. Now consider the same situation, but you're buying an iPhone. Again, you see a sign advertising the iPhone for just $675, not the $685 you paid. Most people are less likely to invest the two minutes here, even though the payoffs are equal.