If you are among the lucky ones returning from a summer holiday this week, you might have brought back some souvenirs from markets where you bargained hard to get a good deal - or so you thought.
Even if you think you’ve got a brilliant price, the brain can easily be influenced to pay more – even by as little as a random number. In a study based on work by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, a scientist went for a walk with a bottle of champagne in one hand and a bag full of ping-pong balls in the other. He told passers by that the balls had random numbers on, and asked them to pick one, which said 10 on it. When he asked the most they’d pay for the champagne, they said around £25. In fact, while the subjects believed the balls were random, they weren’t: every ball had 10 on. When the experiment was repeated with balls saying 65, the maximum amounts raised to around £45.
This is called anchoring, and occurs because the brain works with relative amounts rather than absolutes. It’s why the start of bargaining is so important, and why even keen bargain-hunters can be persuaded to pay above the odds.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
