Self-study
Psychologist: In our study, participants who were offered the opportunity to purchase a coffee mug were not willing to pay more than $5. ███ ████████ ████ ████ █████ █ ████ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why were most study participants unwilling to sell a coffee mug unless they received more than the maximum amount they would have spent to purchase it?
Objective
The right answer will explain a difference between the mugs, the study participants’ states of mind, or the set of circumstances that existed when the participants were in the position of mug buyer vs. mug seller. That difference must result in the participants believing that they either could or should receive more money for the mug than they were willing to spend to purchase it.
3.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █████████ ██████
a
A person’s assessment ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████
This doesn’t explain why the participants’ assessments of the mug’s value changed when they became the seller—the inherent properties of the object didn’t change, so why would the participants’ value assessments be different?
b
People are usually ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █ ████ ██████ ██ █████
This would help if the participants had owned the mug for a long time after they were in the position of buyer and before they were in the position of seller, but the stimulus tells us they were asked about the mug’s price “immediately” after they were given the mug.
c
The amount a ██████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████
This doesn’t help. Even if the participants’ willingnesses to purchase the mug for no more than $5 were based on their knowledge of a previous price, it doesn’t explain why they wouldn’t sell the mug for $5.
d
People tend to █████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ █ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ ████
This describes a key difference between the study participants’ states of mind as mug buyer vs. seller: in the position of seller, they owned the mug, and therefore valued it more highly than before. As a result, they wanted to sell it for more money.
e
People are more ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████
We want to explain why the participants’ assessments of the mug’s value went up when it was given to them. Instead, this answer indicates that we might expect the opposite. This answer choice also compares given vs. purchased objects, but the stimulus describes desired vs. owned.