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heuristics
You value items more simply because they are scarce.
A 1975 study demonstrated that cookies presented in a scarce supply (two cookies) were rated significantly higher in quality than those in an abundant supply (ten cookies).
The experiment compared groups with two versus ten cookies rather than testing a single 'last one' available.
You want it more specifically because it might go away.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Worchel, Lee, and Adewole, 1975
- What the check found
- The study confirmed the scarcity heuristic by comparing jars of two versus ten cookies, but framing it as the 'last one' is a colloquial distortion of the specific supply-demand conditions tested.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.