The Leftovers aren’t all that’s Left Over
Most of us would like to believe that we make purchasing decisions based on the price and quality of a good. A purchase is seen as a very rational exchange of money for an item that we desire. If the price were greater than the “utility,” or happiness that we derive from the valuable, then we don’t make the purchase.
However, psychological studies have shown again and again that this is only partially true. We buy things not because of their actual value, but rather based on their perceived value, which means many times our purchases aren’t very rational.
In 1975, researchers Worchel, Lee, and Adewole conducted an experiment to test the desirability of cookies in different cookie jars162. The experiment featured two cookie jars, one with ten cookies in it, and the other with only two. Though the cookies were exactly the same, the experiment revealed that people valued the cookies more when only two...