Prompt: Answer your classmates discussion with at least 200 words.
Teresa Herrera Marquez
It is my first time hearing the term nudge psychology, and while reading about it, I realize that it is a true reality that all human beings live. only a way of influencing our behavior and decision making when buying a product or item. Personally, I am a person who really likes to go shopping at groceries stores, and most of the time I always have written what I need to buy. When I get to the store the first thing I see is the special of the week. Most stores have their own specials for the week. For example, yesterday I had to go buy some special meat that my mother needed, then when I arrived to the grocery store, I saw that they had organic milk at a special price. The truth is, I was not needing to buy the milk, but the price it had attracted me a lot and influenced my decision. Usually the regular price of a gallon of organic milk is about $ 6.99 depending on the brand. Yesterday each gallon of organic milk was priced at $ 3.99 each. The price seemed super good and cheap to me, so I decided to buy two gallons. I believe that the best thing we can do before being influenced by any type of nudge psychology is to examine the situation first, then what the effect is going to be, and how it is going to effectively improve our behavior and decision making. Also, the nudge psychology needs to target the specific situation and audience as well in order to be an effective part of our decisions.
Miranda Burrow
To be honest, I’d never heard the term Nudge Psychology before today. Now knowing though, I understand it’s been surrounding us for as long as I can remember. I’m fooled by it time and time again especially in shopping. Grocery stores discounting items “buy 10 for 10 $” encouraging us to purchase more amounts of an item they want to push. Also, “buy 1 get 1 half off”, I don’t really need 2 of these items most of the time but the sale to get another half off pushes me to buy 2. There are so many other times I’ve seen nudge psychology being used now that I’m aware. Gym memberships offering a discounted starting rate, stores offering gift cards or free / discounted items, I’ve even seen places offer you completely free items if you spend 100 $ or more, etc.
Knowing about this now, and understanding how it works means that we can improve ourselves in falling for it. One thing I can take away from this is everyday marketing when I go shopping. I sometimes get swayed walking down an aisle for let’s say toilet paper, and finding a hanging item like reusable straws for a tumbler. I don’t NEED those straws, but I see them and think “wow I’d like those straws for my tumblers.” For myself, I can prepare myself to see things like that in a random spot in the store and prepare for discounts and bogos on items. If I go in knowing I’ll see something, I can tell myself “You’re here for one thing and one thing only”, which for me helps me stay focused on my task and keeps me from allowing those items to persuade me.
Of course though, if it’s a good deal I’ll take advantage of it. I find often with some sales or bogos you can actually save yourself more money in the long run. It might be a little more than expected at the time but is worth it in the long run. Like when I see meats on sale, I gotta grab more.
