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cognition
Your decision-making changes when you are distracted by numbers.
In a 1999 study by Shiv and Fedorikhin, participants holding a 7-digit number (high cognitive load) chose chocolate cake 63% of the time, compared to 41% for those holding a 2-digit number.
The increase in choice frequency is approximately 54% relative to the low-load condition, rather than exactly 50%.
When your brain is busy, your impulses take control.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Shiv and Fedorikhin, 1999, Journal of Consumer Research
- What the check found
- The study found a 22 percentage point difference between the two groups. Expressing this as '50% more' is a rough relative approximation rather than a direct finding.
- 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.