95. People Value a Product More Highly When It’s Physically In Front of Them

An author gives a presentation on the topic of his book. It’s well received and people are interested in buying his book. Will people be more likely to buy it if he has it there with him? Is it enough for him to have a picture of the book? Does it matter if he’s selling a book versus some other product? Does the way the item is displayed affect the dollar value that people put on it? Ben Bushong (2010) and a team of researchers decided to test this out.

In the first set of experiments the researchers used snack food (potato chips, candy bars, and so on). Participants were given money to spend. There were lots of choices, and the participants could pick what they wanted ...

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