← all facts
decoy effect
A third option changes which of two items you prefer.
A 1982 study demonstrated that adding a clearly inferior third option makes a more expensive or premium item appear more attractive.
Participants were offered a choice between two products. When a third, less desirable 'decoy' product was added, they shifted their preference toward the more expensive item in the original pair. The decoy makes the target look like the logical, superior choice by comparison.
You do not choose based on inherent value; you choose based on the available alternatives.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Huber, Payne, and Puto, 1982, Journal of Consumer Research
- What the check found
- Huber, Payne, and Puto (1982) is the foundational study for the 'attraction effect' (decoy effect).
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.