Too good to be true? New study shows people reject freebies and cheap deals for fear of hidden costs
If you’re offered a free cookie, you might say yes. But if you’re paid to eat a free cookie, would your response be the same?
In our new research, twice as many people were willing to eat a cookie when they weren’t offered payment compared with when they were.
From a purely economic perspective, our findings reflect irrational decision making. Objectively, a cookie plus money is better than just a cookie.