You are careful with your money: you collect all kinds of coupons; look for group-buy deals if you eat out; you don't buy clothes unless in a sale. Does all this make you a wise consumer?
Let's do the math first: you walk into a coffee shop and see two deals for a cup of coffee. The first deal offers 33 percent extra coffee. The second takes 33 percent off the regular price. What's the better deal? Well, they are about the same, you'd think. And you'd be wrong. The deals appear to be equal, but in fact, they are different. Here's the math: Let's say the standard coffee is 10 yuan and let's divide the amount of coffee into three portions(部分). That makes about 3.3 yuan per portion, The first deal gets you 4 portions for 10 yuan (2.5 yuan per portion) and the second gets you 3 portions of coffee for 6.6 yuan (2.2 yuan per portion) and is therefore a better deal.
In a new study published by the Journal of Marketing, participants were asked the same question, and most of them chose the first deal, the Atlantic website reported. Why? Because getting something extra for free feels better than getting the same for less. The applications of this view into consumer psychology(心理) are huge. Instead of offering direct discounts, shops offer larger sizes or free samples.
According to the study, the reason why these marketing tricks work is that consumers don't really know how much anything should cost, so we rely on parts of our brains that aren't strictly quantitative.
There are some traps we should be aware of when shopping. First of all, we are heavily influenced by the first number. Suppose you are shopping in Hong Kong. You walk into Hermes, and you see a 100,000 yuan bag. That's crazy. You shake your head and leave. The next shop is Gucci, a handbag here costs 25,000 yuan. The price is still high, but pared to the 100,000 yuan price tag you just mitted to your memory, this is a steal. Stores often use the price difference to set consumers' expectation.
Another trap we often fall to Is that we are not really sure what things are worth. And so we use clues(暗示) to tell us what we ought to pay for them. US economist Dan Ariely has done an experiment to prove this. According to the Atlantic, Ariely pretended he was giving a lecture on poetry. He told one group of students that the tickets cost money and another group that they would be paid to attend. Then he informed both groups that thelecture was free. The first group was anxious to attend, believing they were getting something of value for free. The second group mostly declined, believing they were being forced to volunteer for the same event without reward.
What's a lecture on poetry by an economist worth? The students had no idea. That's the point. Do we really know what a shirt is worth ? What about a cup of coffee? What's the worth of a life insurance.policy? Who knows? Most of us don't. As a result, our shopping brain uses only what is knowable: visual(祝觉的) clues, invited emotions, parisons, and a sense of bargain. We are not stupid. We are just easily influenced.
【小题1】The first paragraph of the passage is intended to A．ask a questionB．introduce a topicC．give some examplesD．describe a phenomenon【小题2】The writer takes the math for example in Paragraph 2 to show . _.A．consumers usually fall into marketing trapsB．consumers' expectation is difficult to predictC．consumers' purchasing power is always changingD．consumers rely on their own judgment when shopping【小题3】What consumer psychology is mentioned in the passage?A．The first number has little influence on which item should be bought.B．Consumers never use visual clues to decide how much should be paid.C．Getting something extra for free is better than getting the same for less.D．Consumers never rely on parts of the brains that aren't strictly quantitative.【小题4】According to the passage, shops use the following tricks to make more profits EXCEPT . A．showing price differencesB．offering larger sizesC．providing free samplesD．giving direct discounts【小题5】What can we know from US economist Dan Ariely's experiment?A．Ariely's free lecture enjoyed popularity among students.B．The students actually didn't know what the lecture was worth.C．The second group was willing to be volunteers without reward.D．The first group was eager to find out the value of Ariely's lecture.B
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(答案→)B
解析：
【小题1】B 推理题。本文第一段的目的就是为了引出所要谈论的这个话题，怎么样才是一个明智的消费者？第一段的作用是引起下文，故B正确。
【小题2】A 推理题。第二段距了这样的一个例子是为了说明很多的消费者在购物的时候都没有算清楚真正的那种方法更合理，容易犯错。故A正确。
【小题3】C 细节题。根据第三段3,4行Why? Because getting something extra for free feels better than getting the same for less.说明C的说法正确。
【小题4】D 细节题。根据文章列举的多个例子可知商家给出了多种打折的方法，但是就是没有给出直接的折扣，使用了一些其它的方法如数学方面来让人很困惑，就是没有给出直接的折扣。故D的说法正确。
【小题5】B 细节题。根据文章最后一段1,2行What's a lecture on poetry by an economist worth? The students had no idea. That's the point.说明B正确。学生并不清楚这个演讲的真正价值。