The Anchoring Effect Read online In the 1970s, Tversky and Kahneman¹ ran a simple experiment. They asked people: "What percentage of African countries are in the UN?" But before answering, participants had to spin a wheel with numbers from 0 to 100. The wheel was rigged to land on either 10 or 65. Then came the important question: "Is the actual percentage higher or lower than that number?" After that, participants gave their best estimate. Here’s what happened: People who saw 10 guessed 25%...

The Illusion of Choice Read online Give people $1 and two identical packs of gum. Same flavour. Same price. What happens? Most people aren't interested. That’s what Kim, Novemsky, and Dhar¹ found in a South Korean experiment. They gave participants ₩1,000 and two gum options, both priced at ₩630. Only 46% bought anything. But then they did something clever. They made the prices slightly different: ₩620 vs. ₩640. Now 77% decided to buy. Same gum. Slight price difference. Big impact. Why? When...

Input Bias Read online Does the 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 put into a shop display 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 influence sales? That's what Morales¹ set out to answer in 2005. Participants were shown round the same store, except half saw the shelves 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬. The other participants saw the same products, but with a 𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲. The results are striking. Those who saw the high-effort display were willing to pay 24.4% 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆. After seeing a store display like Boots, customers were willing to pay...