Before making a major purchase, we usually weigh the pros and cons for a long time. “Better listen to your intuition,” urges Laurent Nordgren, a psychologist at Northwestern University.
Before making a major purchase, we usually weigh the pros and cons for a long time. “Better listen to your intuition,” urges Loran F. Nordgren, a psychologist at Northwestern University (USA). He conducted a series of experiments in which participants evaluated various goods (marmalade, paintings, apartments) according to several criteria, and then had to purchase some of them, paying with gambling chips. Those who evaluated no more than three parameters made purchases that were more profitable and closer to their preferences. Other participants evaluated the products according to nine criteria (involuntarily taking them into account when choosing) and, as a result, were less satisfied. Moreover, the more significant the purchase was for them, the less accurate was their decision. “Limit yourself to the analysis of the most important,” the psychologist advises, “and for the rest, trust your inner voice, otherwise you can be too smart.”