How Psychological Tricks Get You to Spend More at the Supermarket

by Robert Montenegro

I'm currently reading David McCraney's excellent book You Are Not So Smart, which is based on his blog of the same name and serves as a useful introduction to logical biases, fallacies, means of manipulation, and other psychological factors that contribute to humans doing or thinking dumb things. Thanks in part to frequency illusion, recency bias, and the availability heuristic, I've begun to see examples from McCraney's work in other writings and in real life situations. For instance, Mental Floss has a neat new post up this week about behind-the-scenes secrets of supermarkets. The main focus is on the psychological ideas and marketing strategies that contribute to things such as store layout, product placement, and atmospheric conditions.

For example, the reason the dairy section tends to be furthest away from the entrance is because the folks who designed the store want you to have to make a lap around the store -- most often in a counter-clockwise pattern -- to goad you into spending more. Another example is the impulse buy -- typically gum or candy or chips. Impulse buys are placed near the register where you're most likely to be paused waiting. Colorful packaging gets positioned at kids' eye level while more expensive treats are stocked at adult eye level. Finally, you're probably familiar with the strategies casinos utilize to keep gamblers from being able to gauge time. Without windows and clocks what's to stop you from losing track of the hours you spend at the craps table? Well, the same idea applies inside a supermarket. When was the last time you spotted a window near the dairy section? 

Take a look at the article linked below for some more interesting examples.

Read more at Mental Floss

Below, author Kabir Sehgal explores several common mental traps that cause Wall Street traders to take on more risk than necessary. Among these are logical biases similar to what we discuss above.

Photo credit: Lisa S. / Shutterstock