Day5
商家的“诱饵效应”，你中招了么？
The trick that makes you overspend
When you buy a cup of coffee, you might have noticed that of the three size options –small, medium and large – the medium-sized serving often costs almost as much as the large. Given the apparent bargain, have you ever opted for the biggest and most expensive option? If so, you have been nudged by a cognitive bias known as the “decoy effect”, in which the deliberate presentation of an additional, slightly less attractive option – in this case, the relatively expensive medium-sized coffee – pushes you to pay out more money than you would have rationally chosen.
Psychologists still debate the exact reasons for this particular effect, but one idea is that the comparison with the decoy offers us an easy justification for an otherwise arbitrary decision. If you were to compare just A and B, it’s hard to know exactly how to appraise the trade-offs between cost and waiting time? But if one option is obviously better than the decoy on one of those measures, you have a ready-made reason to explain your preference.
The decoy effect was first investigated as a potential marketing strategy to influence consumer choices, but the latest research shows that it could also have potent effects in recruitment, healthcare, even politics. An English scientist found that given the choice between arranging a colonoscopy appointment or not having the procedure at all, many people chose not to go. But if he also presented them with a third option – an appointment at a less convenient hospital with a longer waiting time, the decoy –the uptake was greater.
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