For a group of twenty-five children who were trick-or-treating on the evening of October 31, 1993, Halloween was going exactly as planned. Approach the house. Ring the doorbell. Select the candy. Pretty typical, right? What these kids didn’t know was they were the unwitting participants in an experiment. On the same street, coming in the […]
decision-making
Prospect theory: How you make decisions when you don’t know the outcome
Every day you make decisions. Sometimes you can predict the outcome. Sometimes not. Sometimes your decisions are binary—this or that—both with positive outcomes. You’re choosing between two wins. Other times, you need to decide to take action–or do nothing. Even the decision not to decide is still a decision. Other decisions are complicated. Like this: […]
The center stage effect: this is why you choose the product in the middle (even if it’s bad)
The center stage effect describes your tendency to choose options in the middle of a choice set. In some cases, these choices are low-risk: which route you drive to work, which pen you pull from the drawer. The center stage effect also influences which products you buy, which students you call on in class, or […]
The decoy effect: Why you make irrational choices every day (without even knowing it)
The decoy effect describes what happens when, while choosing between two items, a third item is introduced that causes you to switch your preference between the first two items. A few weeks ago, I was at a clothing store trying to decide between two shirts. I liked the way one shirt fit, but I liked […]