Pattern Library
The most important effects in behavioral economics, each with original study, evidence and limits.
Anchoring effect
A number mentioned earlier influences later estimates and judgments, even when it is irrelevant to the question.
- Effect
- Established
Authority (the authority principle)
People are more likely to follow instructions and recommendations that come from a source perceived as legitimate.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Compromise effect
With three options that differ on two attributes such as price and performance, the middle one is often chosen because it looks like a compromise.
- Effect
- Weak
Decoy effect (attraction effect)
A third option that is clearly inferior to one of the other two can increase the choice of that other option. Technically: asymmetric dominance.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Endowed progress
A head start granted on the way to a goal raises the likelihood of reaching it.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Evaluability
Attributes that are hard to judge on their own gain weight only in direct comparison. When an option is evaluated alone, people rely on attributes that are easy to judge.
- Effect
- Weak
Foot-in-the-door technique
People who have agreed to a small request are more likely to agree to a larger one later.
- Effect
- Weak
Framing effect
The same facts, worded differently, lead to different decisions, for example when described as a gain or as a loss.
- Effect
- Robust
Goal-gradient effect
The closer one gets to a goal, the more effort rises to reach it.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Left-digit effect
In numbers, the leftmost digit carries disproportionate weight. 2.99 looks clearly lower than 3.00 because the first digit changes.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Loss aversion
A loss weighs more heavily than a gain of the same size.
- Effect
- Robust
Mental accounting
People assign money mentally to different accounts, such as budget, gain or loss, and treat equal amounts differently depending on the account.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Ovsiankina effect (resumption tendency)
People tend to resume interrupted tasks on their own.
- Effect
- Robust
Pain of paying
Paying is experienced as unpleasant. Its strength is said to depend on how tightly payment and consumption are coupled and on how the payment is presented.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Processing fluency
The more easily we can process a piece of information, the more positively we evaluate it.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Reactance
Someone who sees their freedom of choice threatened develops resistance to the influence attempt.
- Effect
- Weak
Scarcity
An offer seems more valuable when it is scarce or about to become scarce.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Self-referencing
Information processed in relation to oneself is retained better than unrelated information.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Social proof
In unclear situations people take their cue from what others in the same position are doing.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Sunk-cost fallacy
Costs that have already been invested and cannot be recovered influence the decision to carry on, although they should be irrelevant for the future.
- Effect
- Context-dependent
Zeigarnik effect
Interrupted or unfinished tasks are remembered better than completed ones.
- Effect
- Weak