About 3 years ago, Dan Ariely presented "Are we in control of our actions" [1] which demonstrated, among other things, that when offering 3 graduated choices th

About 3 years ago, Dan Ariely presented "Are we in control of our actions" [1] which demonstrated, among other things, that when offering 3 graduated choices the middle choice has a strong orienting effect on the decider. That is, the middle choice points the way towards which pair should be considered - the bottom two or the top two. The prices of the author's packages are $39, $79, and $169. The differences are $40 and $90, respectively. According to Ariely, in this situation more people will consider the $39/$79 pair (because they are more similar, in this case based on price) rather than the $79/$169 pair, and, in fact, this is what the author reports. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X68dm92HVI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X68dm92HVI