5 sneaky ways stores get you to spend more · TED-Ed
揭秘零售商利用锚定效应、框架效应等行为经济学原理影响你购物决策的5种常见策略，并教你如何识别和避免。适合练习商业、消费心理学相关听力与表达。
You're about to buy some bargain bin headphones when you spot a real bargain.
你正要买些便宜货耳机，这时发现一个真正的便宜货。
This pair is more expensive, but it's selling for half its usual price.
这副耳机更贵，但售价只有平时的一半。
Surely this is the better buy, right?
这肯定是更好的选择，对吧？
It’s possible!
有可能！
However, it’s also possible you’re falling for a psychological trick retailers use to influence what you buy and what you’re willing to pay.
不过，也有可能你中了零售商的心理圈套，他们用这招来影响你买什么以及愿意付多少钱。
From the late 1800s, economic theory often assumed that consumers were rational actors who pursued the optimal financial choice.
从19世纪末开始，经济理论常常假设消费者是追求最优财务选择的理性行为者。
But while consumers are reasonably rational on average, they’re also vulnerable to impulse purchases, savvy salespeople, and other external factors that make them, well, irrational.
但尽管消费者平均而言还算理性，他们也容易受冲动消费、精明的销售员和其他外部因素影响，变得不那么理性。
20th century psychologists investigating these factors learned that human decision making is rarely perfectly logical.
研究这些因素的20世纪心理学家发现，人类的决策很少是完全符合逻辑的。
And by the 1970s, this research informed the birth of behavioral economics, a new field exploring the intersection of economics and psychology.
到了1970年代，这项研究促成了行为经济学的诞生，这是一个探索经济学与心理学交叉领域的新学科。
Behavioral economics operated off a new assumption, introduced by economic sciences laureate Herbert Simon.
行为经济学基于一个新的假设运作，由经济学奖得主Herbert Simon提出。
His model, called “bounded rationality,” argued that consumers have limited information, limited time, and various psychological constraints that lead them not to the optimal financial choice, but simply one they feel good about.
他的模型称为“有限理性”，认为消费者信息有限、时间有限，并有各种心理限制，导致他们不会做出最优财务选择，而只是选择一个感觉不错的。
So how do we decide what's good enough?
那么我们如何决定什么是足够好的呢？
Rather than using logic, behavioral economists say we fall back on heuristics— mental shortcuts for making decisions easier and faster.
行为经济学家说，我们并非运用逻辑，而是依赖启发法——让决策更简单快捷的心理捷径。
For example, the anchoring heuristic suggests that the first piece of information you get becomes your baseline for future decision making.
例如，锚定启发法认为，你获得的第一条信息会成为未来决策的基准。
So if a menu's first item costs $50, you'll compare other prices against that reference point.
所以如果菜单上第一道菜标价50美元，你就会以这个参考点来比较其他价格。
Psychologists like Daniel Kahneman thought heuristics predict many consumer choices— which means they can be manipulated to control them.
像Daniel Kahneman这样的心理学家认为，启发法可以预测许多消费者选择——这意味着它们可以被操纵来控制选择。
Case in point, while those discounted headphones might be 50% off, it’s also possible the original price was inflated to begin with.
举个例子，虽然那副打折耳机可能是五折，但原价也可能一开始就被抬高了。
Anchoring is just one of many heuristics retailers exploit.
锚定效应只是零售商利用的众多启发法之一。
Consider this: which of these cleaning products would you buy?
想想看：这些清洁产品中你会买哪个？
How about now?
现在呢？
Both are equally effective and basically cost the same, but careful language and pricing makes one more appealing.
两者效果相同，成本也基本一样，但谨慎的措辞和定价让其中一个更具吸引力。
This is the framing effect, and it’s one of several psychological phenomena that short circuit our ability to assign value.
这就是框架效应，它是几种干扰我们价值判断能力的心理现象之一。
Here’s an example of another: some American grocery stores tried encouraging customers to bring reusable shopping bags by offering a 5 cent credit.
这是另一个例子：一些美国杂货店曾尝试通过提供5美分优惠来鼓励顾客携带可重复使用的购物袋。
But this proved less effective than charging a 5 cent fee for using disposable bags.
但这被证明不如对使用一次性袋子收取5美分费用有效。
In other words, the desire to avoid losing 5 cents was more motivating than gaining 5 cents.
换句话说，避免损失5美分的欲望比获得5美分更有激励作用。
This is called loss aversion, and retailers trigger this fear of losing value by emphasizing a sale’s scarcity or looming deadline.
这被称为损失厌恶，零售商通过强调促销的稀缺性或截止日期来触发这种害怕失去价值的恐惧。
All these tactics suggest our perception of value is more important than what something is actually worth.
所有这些策略都表明，我们对价值的感知比物品的实际价值更重要。
And that effect goes deeper than you might think.
而这种影响比你想象的更深入。
In a 2008 study, subjects were put into MRI machines and treated to samples from five bottles of increasingly expensive wine.
在2008年的一项研究中，受试者被放入核磁共振仪，并品尝了五瓶价格递增的葡萄酒样品。
Participants reported preferring the expensive samples, and MRI images confirmed this claim.
参与者报告称更喜欢昂贵的样品，核磁共振图像也证实了这一说法。
But in reality they only tasted three bottles, with the two cheapest pulling double duty as the two priciest.
但实际上他们只品尝了三瓶酒，最便宜的两瓶被重复用作最昂贵的两瓶。
Of course, retailers don’t just manipulate your perception, they control the spaces you shop.
当然，零售商不仅操纵你的感知，还控制你购物的空间。
Supermarkets often place high-margin items at eye level and design stores to guide you past them.
超市通常将高利润商品放在视线高度，并设计商店布局引导你经过它们。
Behavioral economist Richard Thaler and legal scholar Cass Sunstein call this subtle product placement “nudge theory,” and it works online as well.
行为经济学家Richard Thaler和法律学者Cass Sunstein称这种微妙的产品摆放为“助推理论”，这在网上同样有效。
Sites might nudge you by suggesting related items to purchase or by pre-selecting add-ons.
网站可能会通过推荐相关商品或预选附加项目来助推你。
So if retailers are boxing you in, what can you do about it?
那么如果零售商在围困你，你能做什么呢？
First, shop slower.
首先，放慢购物速度。
Heuristic-based decision making is quick and instinctive, so slowing down to run the numbers can pull back the curtain on a flashy deal.
基于启发式的决策快速而本能，所以放慢速度计算数字可以揭开华丽促销的真相。
Deciding what a product is worth to you before shopping can help set your own anchors.
在购物前确定产品对你的价值有助于设定你自己的锚点。
And always ask yourself why you want this deal.
并且总要问自己为什么想要这笔交易。