What is Digg?79 Comments
- djjester, on 10/10/2007, -2/+57page is subscriber only :-(
however...from the summary, wouldn't that simply be representative of a percentage difference in the numbers? ie 3-4 is a 33% increase wheras 8-9 is 12.5% - jeffiek, on 10/10/2007, -2/+23fta: "Students who saw ads showing a $233 skate marked down to $222 thought they were getting a larger discount than did students who saw a $199 skate marked down to $188, even though the opposite was true."
Is it just me, or are today's kids really bad at math? Or is it the schools that are teaching them? - jmpeagle, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20here is the article since it is subscriber only:
Minding the Gap in Sizing Up Sale Prices
By ALEX MINDLIN
Published: July 30, 2007
Eleven years ago, researchers discovered a quirk in consumers’ thinking about prices: they acted as if low digits were farther apart than higher ones. For example, consumers behaved as if there were more of a gap between three and four than between eight and nine.
A recent paper in the Journal of Consumer Research builds on that notion by examining people’s responses to sale prices for fictional items, focusing on their reactions to differing right-hand digits in price figures. The paper was written by Keith S. Coulter and Robin A. Coulter, professors at Clark University and the University of Connecticut, respectively.
In one study, college students looked at an ad for a fictional roller skate that gave the skate’s regular and sale prices. Among other questions, the students were asked how likely they were to buy the skates and how large they thought the discount was.
Students who saw ads showing a $233 skate marked down to $222 thought they were getting a larger discount than did students who saw a $199 skate marked down to $188, even though the opposite was true. The first group of students also rated themselves about 20 percent more likely to buy the skates than did the others. ALEX MINDLIN
A very short article - agrabob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17they have this crazy thing now, its called news on the internet, for free. They still print these archaic things called newspapers for the elderly. I don't know what they look like as they are only delivered to nursing homes.
- warholsbluecat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Consumers are dumb.ALEX MIDLAND
- faithhealer, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Actually no. The researchers eliminated that effect by using a higher significant digit for the lower-numbered comparison digits:
"Students who saw ads showing a $233 skate marked down to $222 thought they were getting a larger discount than did students who saw a $199 skate marked down to $188, even though the opposite was true." - geocator, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Yes, but the study shows that they perceived the opposite. They they thought the 233 markdown was a higher percentage. And apparently show that it is not the whole price that cuases this reflection, but the last digit.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14dijester said exactly what i was going to say. with alot less profanity, but still, my thoughts exactly.
- quentinmcalmott, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Would you rather have an $11 discount when you're buying a $20,000 car or a $15 book?
- trevah, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10That sounds less like a consumer "quirk" and more like people not knowing how to operate proportions.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Intelligent, wealthy people don't read the news...they make the news.
- ultimate_ed, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Pass at math, FAIL at reading.
- TenebrousX, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7That's no quirk - that's a space station!
- berb, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8What's wrong with buying from Cosco? I don't know about you, but there are plenty of items I can buy 50 of and use/consume them all within a reasonable amount of time.
- spicytuna, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5what a crappy article, no explanation what so ever.
- Toshibi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Welcome to Costco. I love you.
- kashem, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5djjester: That's what Bug Me Not is for!
- msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The quirk has been obvious for some time now: the average consumers are stupid.
- msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6For example: beer
- zachblume, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5exactly. the ratio difference is smaller. its not a quirk, its just logical thinking. "big deal, im already spending $1000, why not $1001" as opposed to a price increase from $1 to $2.
- mburk, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6I love the first stat they mention about how people thought there was a bigger gap between three and four rather than eight and nine. Um, yes, the difference is still 1, but the percentage of increase from 3 to 4 is 33%, while 8 to 9 is 12.5%. So the delta for 3 to 4 is significantly higher than for 8 to 9, and we should be more reluctant about that sort of increase. Poor article.
- tehpwnrate, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Batteries, bagel bites, bagel bites, bagel bites, hot pockets, and bagel bites are all great things to get at Costco.
- Mothrog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4No, it's perfectly logical. When you're making a $1000 purchase, a $50 discount isn't that big of a deal because a $50 off $1000 is a 5% discount. The $60 to $10 sale is an 83.3% discount. Since such discounts tend to be temporary, a 5% discount may not be sufficient motivation to take the time to go out and take advantage of it, whereas an 83.3% discount might well be, even if it does represent the same monetary amount.
- Stochio, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5It's interesting that you bring that example up as logical because it's a perfect example of something not logical. Many people would not drive across town to save $50 on a $1000 purchase but would drive across town to save $50 (or even $40) on a $60 purchase. This is illogical.
- diggbot7, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The question on everyone's mind, I think, is "Is our children learning?"
- akatherder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You got the math right. However the article says their study showed people were more willing to buy the $233 item at $222 (i.e. the worse/smaller discount).
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The same consumers this article talks about are the same people who didn't RTFA correctly.
- Stochio, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You're missing the point.
- Flashman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3But what would you rather get a discount on? Cheap skates or expensive skates?
(Cheapskate? Is that where that comes from?) - Mothrog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Your = possessive
You're = you are
Learn the difference. - theholycow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Comment abuse because I'm feeling pretty abused, what with having to post this even though it should be common knowledge:
http://www.bugmenot.com/view/nytimes.com
http://www.bugmenot.com/view/www.nytimes.com
And, for those too lazy...
Drilling Down
Minding the Gap in Sizing Up Sale Prices
By ALEX MINDLIN
Eleven years ago, researchers discovered a quirk in consumers’ thinking about prices: they acted as if low digits were farther apart than higher ones. For example, consumers behaved as if there were more of a gap between three and four than between eight and nine.
A recent paper in the Journal of Consumer Research builds on that notion by examining people’s responses to sale prices for fictional items, focusing on their reactions to differing right-hand digits in price figures. The paper was written by Keith S. Coulter and Robin A. Coulter, professors at Clark University and the University of Connecticut, respectively.
In one study, college students looked at an ad for a fictional roller skate that gave the skate’s regular and sale prices. Among other questions, the students were asked how likely they were to buy the skates and how large they thought the discount was.
Students who saw ads showing a $233 skate marked down to $222 thought they were getting a larger discount than did students who saw a $199 skate marked down to $188, even though the opposite was true. The first group of students also rated themselves about 20 percent more likely to buy the skates than did the others. ALEX MINDLIN
[There is a graphic of text that says:
"5.53 - Perceived discount percentage when a $233 item is marked down to $222
4.18 - Perceived discount percentage when a $199 item is marked down to $188"] - roguenine2000, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3i don't look at sale items by percentages though... because even if i get a huge percentage off the only thing that matters is actual money saved
- HesNikke, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4i don't understand... aren't they both $11 discounts?
- euvirtual, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The opposite was true?
$233 - $222 = $11
$199 - $188 = $11
So they get the same discount and not the opposite which would imply that $199 to $188 was a larger discount than $233 to $222. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yes the schools are doing a bad job. I have two nephews and neither of their Math books provides examples, nor do they even number their pages right! To be specific, they just reset the page numbers at each chapter. So it goes from 1-60, then back to 1-68, then back to 1-45, etc. They do not even distinguish which chapter it is anywhere on the page. And the lessons are not listed in order. It is very intentionally designed to confuse kids and make it hard for them to learn math.
- adoggz, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I think your trying to say that a $1 discount on a $300 card isn't a great as a $1 discount on a $100 card.
- adamdigg, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3How can anything but the monetary amount be important? You can't spend percentage points, or put them in the bank to earn interest.
- agrabob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Really? care to name a few?
I bet most people who are highly intelligent don't even read the news.
As far as spending your life on the internet being lonely and sad, you appear to be off to a pretty good start seeing that you are commingting on 3 deep replies on Digg. Any of those intelligent people you care to name actually use Digg? or even know what it is? - jakobm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3As the first comment states the difference between the actual digits is what the consumer reacts to.
This might be jumping at conclusion, but intuitively its a good rule. I am rather sure this whole issue is only relevant with impulse driven buys. In our daily purchases a lot is really mainly based on what we want, and how much our maximum price is. We really dont "care" that much on price. Some might state that I am overemphasizing the personal want, and that price considerations are an important factor to some, but I really believe that in most circumstances price is a low priority factor in any purchase. Anyone that have experienced a good commercial, a good salesman, or simply a sudden urge will know what I am referring to. In these situations price gets pushed rather far down the priority ladder. So basically the finding is not that strange, its simply a trick played on our instinct prior to actual evaluation of price. The numbers seem low and if we had the want in the first place we have been pulled in by the "visual illusion of low price". - thelatemail, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The abstract of the recent journal paper referenced in the article is here if you're curious...
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/518526 - s1mph0ny, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The $11 discount from the second one is more significant because it's a larger percentage of total cost. It's also a lower cost item, so a consumer is less likely to care about the price. The "quirk", as the NYC describes it, could just be conflicting principles of economics.
It's kind of important to keep that kind of thing out of your quirk study, otherwise your results are worthless. - aloser, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Either that or government subsidies (eg Ethanol)
- s1mph0ny, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Buy rechargeable.
- s1mph0ny, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1thats what happens when you have stupid people being analyzed by even stupider authors.
- nick0909, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Or more likely, the price of gas is completely fixed and rigged and the market is only willing to pay 20-30 cents more for premium than the low grade. Because of this, there has never been a better time to drive a premium car, as your cost per gallon compared to regular has gone down. So everyone go buy fancy new high-compression cars and drive everywhere as fast as possible!
- muchachoburacho, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The person writing the description made a mistake.
FTA:Students who saw ads showing a $233 skate marked down to $222 thought they were getting a larger discount than did students who saw a $199 skate marked down to $188, even though the opposite was true. The first group of students also rated themselves about 20 percent more likely to buy the skates than did the others. - Floodle, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You can do this free with google, google for $19.95 then google for $19.99.
$19.95 is more common so that's the price to use according to that guys logic
I've just saved you $29 - carve, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1My bet would be that the additive costs don't change much. It is the raw crude oil that gets expensive, and the biggest difference between the grades are a few additives.
- Bizdorph, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Discount percentage:
11/233 = 4.72 percent
11/199 = 5.52 percent.
Those percentage figures they quote on the site are backwards. Dumbasses. - akatherder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How come no matter how high gas prices rise, they are still 10 cents apart? I remember when regular was $1.00, mid-grade was $1.10, and premium was $1.20. It seems like it's $2.89, $2.99, and $3.09 now. Sometimes it's 15 cents higher per grade, but it seems like mid-grade and premium should be far more expensive.
-
Show 51 - 78 of 78 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is