Unit Asking Read online Which of these articles encouraged Brits to donate more? It's the one on the right. Research by Christopher Hsee¹ found that donors gave nearly twice as much when first asked to consider the needs of a single person before being asked to donate to a larger cause. This “unit asking” strategy made contributions feel more reasonable and personal. And it explains this² rather bizarre study: The study looked at the success rate of donation requests on the...

Hyperbolic Discounting Read online One of these ads looks 108% better value. Can you guess which? In 2025, Shotton and Flicker¹ tested ads like this in their book. 282 consumers were shown Sierra Nevada Pale Ale priced at $18.99 for 12 bottles. Half were told this equated to $1.58 per bottle. Among those shown the per-bottle price, 28.6% said it was good or very good value (more than double the 13.7% who only saw the total price). Framing the cost at the per-unit level made the purchase feel...

Specific Number Bias Read online Which coaster makes Guinness seem like the ‘𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘵’? That’s what Schindler¹ (Rutgers University) and Yalch (University of Washington) studied in 2006. They showed participants ads that used specific numbers, for example: “It takes 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect pint.” Vs. rounded numbers: “It takes 2 minutes to pour the perfect pint.” Turns out, claims made using 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 are perceived to be 10% 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. By pointing out that it takes...