Psychology behind spending money

大手大脚花钱背后的心理学

Psychology behind spending money

(Tiffanie Wen)

 

如果你买得起，你会花一万美元买一副耳机吗？如果换成其他一掷千金的事情，你会去做吗？

If you can afford it, will you spend $ 10,000 to buy a headset? If you switch to other big things, will you do it?

 

像森海塞尔（Sennheiser）Orpheus或安桥（Onkyo）Diamond这种最顶级的耳机，售价可以达到几万美元。但一万美元的耳机音质真的比1,000美元耳机好10倍吗？

The top headphones, such as Sennheiser Orpheus or Onkyo Diamond, can cost tens thousands  dollars. But is the quality of a 10,000 dollar headset really 10 times better than a 1,000 dollar headset?

 

关于定价对观念的影响展开的研究显示，价格会对我们眼中的价值产生很大影响，以至于我们有的时候会认为贵的东西肯定更好，即便它们实际上与价格较低的东西品质相同。

A study of the impact of pricing shows that prices can have a big impact on the value of our eyes, so that we sometimes think that something expensive is definitely better, even if they are actually of the same quality as the less expensive ones.

 

在加州理工学院（California Institute of Technology）和斯坦福大学（Stanford University）的学者共同进行的一项研究中，志愿者虽然拿到的是相同的红酒，但在被告知其中一种价格更高时，他们不仅认为这种红酒品质更好，甚至当他们饮用这种红酒时，功能性磁共振（MRI）成像都表明，大脑获得的感受更愉悦。

In a study conducted jointly by scholars at the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, volunteers received the same red wine but were told that one of them was more expensive. Not only do they think that this wine is of better quality, even when they drink it, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that the brain feels more pleasant.

 

另外一项研究虽然使用了安慰剂镇痛片，但当研究人员告诉志愿者他们服用的这种假安慰剂每片价值2.5美元时，他们在一系列冲击中感受到的痛苦，低于那些以为自己的镇痛片只值10美分的人。

In another study, although placebo analgesic tablets were used, when the researchers told volunteers that the fake placebo they were taking was worth $2.50 per tablet, they felt less pain in a series of shocks than those who thought his own painkiller is only worth 10 cents.