Psychologyspeaking topic
The jam experiment: shoppers stopped to browse a display of 24 jams, but a display of just 6 sold ten times more. Why does abundance leave us unable to buy at all?
— Iyengar and Lepper, the jam experiment (2000)
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- The bystander effect: if someone faints in a crowded place, why does nobody move, when the same person would rush to help if they were the only witness? Why do crowds make us passive?
- Semantic and episodic memory: is 'Paris is the capital of France' stored in a different system than 'I went to Paris last summer'? Are knowing and remembering different things?
- The endowment effect: why does something suddenly become more valuable the moment it's ours? Why do we ask more for an item we're selling than we would ever pay to buy it?
- Religion would thus be the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity.
- Day job or dream: should your passion also be your paycheck?