New Study: If you touch it, you will buy it
Here is an excerpt from the MSNBC.com article:
Participants in the study were shown an inexpensive coffee mug, and were allowed to hold it either for 10 seconds or 30 seconds. They were then allowed to bid for the mug in either a closed (where bids could not be seen) or open (where they could be seen) auction. The participants were told the retail value of the mug before bidding began ($3.95 in the closed auction; $4.95 in the open auction).
The study, detailed in the August 2008 issue of the journal Judgment and Decision Making, found that on average, people who held the mug for longer bid more for it — $3.91 to $2.44 in the case of the open auction and $3.07 to $2.24 in the closed. In fact, people who held the mug for 30 seconds bid more than the retail price four out of seven times.
Read the whole article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28697866
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January 20th, 2009 at 9:20 am
This explains why I should stay away from free samples in the food court.
March 8th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I guess the longer you hold it, the more time you have to examine the product and determine a fair price. This could work both ways, what if a poor quality product was used? Maybe the 30 second bids would be lower than the 10 second bids.