1 . Imagine this: You’re at a movie theater food stand loading up on snacks. You have a choice of a small, medium or large soda. The small is $3.50 and the large is $5.50. It’s a tough decision: The small size may not last you through the whole movie, but $5.50 for some sugary drink seems ridiculous. But there’s a third option, a medium soda for $5.25. The medium might be just right for you, but the large only cost a quarter more. If you’re like the majority of people, you end up buying the large.
If you’re wondering who would purchase the medium soda, the answer is almost no one. Actually, there’s a good chance that the marketing department purposely priced the medium soda as a decoy(诱饵), making you more likely to buy the soda rather than the small.
I have written about this unique human nature previously with my friend Dan Ariely, who, after noticing pricing for subscription(订阅) to The Economist, studied this phenomenon extensively. The digital subscription was $59, the print subscription was $125, and the print plus digital subscription was also $125. No one in their right mind would buy the print subscription when you could get digital as well for the same price, so why was it even an option? Ariely ran an experiment and found that when only the two“real”choices were offered, more people chose the less-expensive digital subscription. However, the bad option increased people’s likelihood of selecting the expensive print plus digital option.
Brain scientists call this effect“asymmetric dominance” and it means that people are attracted to the option that is closest to an obviously inferior(较差的) option. Marketing professors call it the decoy effect, which is certainly easier to remember. It works because of the way our brain assign value when making choices. Value is rarely absolute; rather, we decide an object’s value relative to other choices. If more options are introduced, the value equation(方程) changes.
1. What’s the function of the example in paragraph 1?
| A．To offer background information. | B．To explain an economical phenomenon. |
| C．To arouse the readers’ interest in the topic. | D．To illustrate a rule when buying drinks. |
2. What do we learn from Dan Ariely’s experiment?
| A．The Economist’s print edition turns out to sell the best. |
| B．More readers choose the digital over the print edition. |
| C．Lower-priced goods attract more customers. |
| D．The Economist’s promotional strategy works. |
3. From which website would you most probably find this text?
| A．https://www.lifestyle.com/health | B．https://www. science.com/local |
| C．https://www.consumers.com/money | D．https://www.education.com/science |
4. How do we assess the value of a product, according to the passage?
| A．by considering its usefulness. | B．Comparing it with other choices. |
| C．By examining its value equation. | D．By taking its low quality into account. |
