Morgan BellWe shop like monkeys
June 23rd 2006 07:29
Buyer happiness is influenced by how long the seller takes to respond to an offer when bargaining, according to a study at the University of Maryland. The longer a seller hesitates before responding to an offer, the better the buyer perceives the deal to be.
“We tend to view bargaining situations as combative situations in which we either get the better of our opponent or they get the better of us,” a EurekAlert media release explains. This is why we gauge our success at bargaining by the opponent’s reaction and not the final price.
According to another study by economist Keith Chen and psychologist Laurie Santos at Yale University, USA, humans aren’t alone in our economic rationale… or, irrationale. The researchers studied how capuchin monkeys traded metal-chip money for food, and found that the monkeys often opted for the better-value option. In other cases, however, the monkeys sometimes made human-like, irrational decisions. In one experiment, the monkeys had to choose between being given a grape that had a 50% chance of being taken back, or a 50% chance of receiving a grape. Although both scenarios yield an equal chance of getting a grape, monkeys demonstrated a distinct preference for the latter option. This preference is attributed to loss aversion, a behaviour that is common to humans too.
The New Scientist reported: “Pay one monkey less than another for equal work, and you are likely to get a screeching tantrum, seemingly in protest at gross economic injustice.
“Such similarities suggest that our human economic dispositions probably have deep evolutionary origins.”
(image from flickr.com)
Bargainers battle it out
According to another study by economist Keith Chen and psychologist Laurie Santos at Yale University, USA, humans aren’t alone in our economic rationale… or, irrationale. The researchers studied how capuchin monkeys traded metal-chip money for food, and found that the monkeys often opted for the better-value option. In other cases, however, the monkeys sometimes made human-like, irrational decisions. In one experiment, the monkeys had to choose between being given a grape that had a 50% chance of being taken back, or a 50% chance of receiving a grape. Although both scenarios yield an equal chance of getting a grape, monkeys demonstrated a distinct preference for the latter option. This preference is attributed to loss aversion, a behaviour that is common to humans too.
The New Scientist reported: “Pay one monkey less than another for equal work, and you are likely to get a screeching tantrum, seemingly in protest at gross economic injustice.
“Such similarities suggest that our human economic dispositions probably have deep evolutionary origins.”
(image from flickr.com)
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