(Press-News.org) Some retailers, such as Apple's iTunes, are known for using uniform pricing in an effort to simplify consumers' choices and perhaps increase their tendency to make impulse purchases. But other stores, like supermarkets, often have small price differences across product flavors and brands.
As counterintuitive as it might seem, these small price differences may actually make the options seem more similar, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research shows that adding small differences can actually help to make choosing less difficult and reduce the likelihood that we'll put off making a choice.
Traditional models of similarity – along with everyday intuition – would suggest that increasing the differences between objects can't make them seem more similar. But researchers Nathan Novemsky and Ravi Dhar of the Yale School of Management, along with Jongmin Kim of Singapore Management University, hypothesized that small differences might actually draw attention to the attributes that are identical – attributes we would otherwise ignore.
So, for example, if we have to choose between two cereals that have the same price, we're likely to ignore price and focus on the similarity in flavor. But if the prices are slightly different, we'll focus on similarities in both price and flavor, leading us to see the cereals as more similar overall.
In the first study, university students chose between two kinds of tea. They saw an image and read information about the ingredients, benefits, and price of each tea.
Students who were told the teas had the same price judged them to be less similar than the students who thought they had different prices, confirming the researchers' hypothesis. And this finding wasn't limited to tea: Novemsky and his colleagues observed the same pattern with other options, including cereals and restaurant entrees.
Results from a second study suggest that we do pay attention to identical attributes but only when our attention is drawn to them.
So what consequences might this effect have for actual decision-making?
Additional studies revealed that students had more difficulty choosing between objects with the same price because they were seen as less substitutable for one another. And students were more likely to actually purchase an object when the prices were different. In the final study, introducing a 3% difference in price nearly doubled the number of purchases.
Ultimately, these studies suggest that these small differences increase perceived similarity, which helps to make choosing less difficult and decreases the likelihood that we'll defer making a choice.
Novemsky and his colleagues note that small differences across choice options probably seem trivial to most people. In a follow-up study, most participants predicted that small price differences wouldn't affect their choices; they also underestimated their tendency to pay attention to those differences.
But, together, the findings of these studies suggest just the opposite – small differences can have a substantial impact on how we choose.
###
For more information about this study, please contact: Nathan Novemsky at nathan.novemsky@yale.edu.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Adding Small Differences Can Increase Similarity and Choice" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
END
COLUMBIA, Mo. –Parenting infants and toddlers can be challenging, and for generations, mothers have turned to other moms for advice. Now, with the availability of the Internet, mothers are consulting each other using modern venues: online message boards. Research from the University of Missouri indicates online discussion boards provide safe environments for mothers to anonymously express child-rearing concerns and receive support from other moms.
"Mothers have feelings that they might be embarrassed to talk about face-to-face with someone," said Jean Ispa, professor ...
TORONTO, ON – Ecologists at the University of Toronto and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have found that, given time, invading exotic plants will likely eliminate native plants growing in the wild despite recent reports to the contrary.
A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reports that recent statements that invasive plants are not problematic are often based on incomplete information, with insufficient time having passed to observe the full effect of invasions on native biodiversity.
"The impacts ...
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellow Anne Ruffing has engineered two strains of cyanobacteria to produce free fatty acids, a precursor to liquid fuels, but she has also found that the process cuts the bacteria's production potential.
Micro-algal fuels might be one way to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign energy. Such fuels would be renewable since they are powered by sunlight. They also could reduce carbon dioxide emissions since they use photosynthesis, and they could create jobs in a new industry. President Barack Obama, speaking in ...
A high-fiber diet may have the clinical potential to control the progression of prostate cancer in patients diagnosed in early stages of the disease.
The rate of prostate cancer occurrence in Asian cultures is similar to the rate in Western cultures, but in the West, prostate cancer tends to progress, whereas in Asian cultures it does not. Why? A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research shows that the answer may be a high-fiber diet.
The study compared mice fed with of inositol hexaphosphate ...
Research by University of Arizona astronomy professor Rodger Thompson finds that a popular alternative to Albert Einstein's theory for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe does not fit newly obtained data on a fundamental constant, the proton to electron mass ratio.
Thompson's findings, reported Jan. 9 at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, Calif., impact our understanding of the universe and point to a new direction for the further study of its accelerating expansion.
To explain the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, astrophysicists ...
Infrared and near-infrared NASA satellite imagery provided signs to forecasters that Tropical Cyclone Narelle is intensifying as it moves southwest paralleling Western Australia coastline. Warnings have been posted as Narelle nears.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABM) issued the following watch and warnings for Narelle on Jan. 9: A cyclone watch is in effect for coastal areas from Whim Creek to Coral Bay. A Blue alert is in effect for coastal and island communities from Whim Creek to Mardie, including Wickham, Roebourne, Point Sampson, Karratha and Dampier.
The ...
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Living in a caring community may help curb teenage alcohol use, while hanging out with antisocial peers can have the opposite effect, according to Penn State researchers studying substance abuse patterns.
The researchers evaluated how seven different categories of risk and protective factors predicted teen alcohol use. Risk factors included antisocial attitudes, antisocial behaviors, association with antisocial peers and family risk. Protective factors were positive community experiences, positive school experiences and family strengths.
Damon ...
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Mussels can be a mouthwatering meal, but the chemistry that lets mussels stick to underwater surfaces may also provide a highly adhesive wound closure and more effective healing from surgery.
In recent decades bioahesives, tissue sealants and hemostatic agents became the favored products to control bleeding and promote tissue healing after surgery. However, many of them have side effects or other problems, including an inability to perform well on wet tissue.
"To solve this medical problem, we looked at nature," said Jian Yang, associate professor ...
WASHINGTON - Adapting to future climate change impacts requires capabilities in hydroclimate monitoring, short-term prediction and application of such information to support contemporary water management decisions. These needs were identified in a report, "Short-Term Water Management Decisions: User Needs for Improved Climate, Weather, and Hydrologic Information," published by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is available online at: http://bit.ly/TJpWxK.
The report identifies how ...
New York, NY, January 10, 2013 – Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) is a rapidly growing technology used to treat advanced heart failure. Thousands of patients worldwide have now undergone implantation of long- term MCS devices (MCSDs) that can enable them to return home and resume a normal lifestyle. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) convened an international panel of experts in all aspects of MCS care, which has developed practice guidelines to provide a common framework for the care and treatment of MCS patients. The Executive Summary ...
