When you buy a cup of coffee, you have probably noticed the three different size options: small, medium and large. The medium-sized serving often costs almost as much as the large one. 【小题1】 have you ever chosen the biggest and most expensive option?

If so, you have been driven by a cognitive bias(认知偏误) known as the “decoy effect(诱饵效应)”. 【小题2】 It pushes you to pay more money than you would have otherwise chosen to. Consider another example.

Imagine you are choosing flights from the following options:

■Flight A costs $400 with a stopover of 60 minutes.

■Flight B costs $330 with a stopover of 150 minutes.

■Flight C costs $435 with a stopover of 60 minutes

The researchers found that most people would choose Flight A. It is cheaper than Flight C. Compared with Flight B it has a shorter waiting time—even though it is considerably more expensive.

Now look at a different set of flights:

■Flight A costs $400 with a stopover of 60 minutes

■Flight B costs $330 with a stopover of 150 minutes

■Flight C costs $330 with a stopover of 195 minutes.

In this case, most people’s preference was Flight B.

In each case, Flight C (the decoy) was designed. to appear similar to, but slightly less attractive than, one of the other options (the target). 【小题3】 Experiments have found the use of a well-designed decoy can shift opinion between the other two options by as much as 40 percent —showing how easily our decisions can be swayed by the way they are designed.

The decoy effect was first investigated as a potential marketing strategy to influence consumer choices. However, by learning about it, you may become less likely to be affected by this unconscious influence. 【小题4】

If you are discussing travel pans with friends, for instance, and have not decided yet where to go, you might present two alternative arrangements at your city of choice, but one with a slightly more expensive hotel. Even if your friends might have otherwise selected a different location, the comparison might just tempt them to opt for your preferred option.

【小题5】 Ask yourself whether you are really choosing the option you need or want, or whether you are being distracted by an intentionally unappealing alternative. Like an expert snipe(狙击手) trained to avoid false targets, you may find that your judgement suddenly becomes a lot more accurate.

For most people, the weekly shopping is just an ordinary task. 【小题1】 When I travel abroad, the first thing I do after dropping my bags off is go to the grocery store (杂货店).

The variety of products in different countries fascinates me every time I travel somewhere new. 【小题2】 Another surprise in Malta was their selection of ice cream available even in the smallest grocery stores, the best of which was a pack of delicious ice cream sandwiches.

By wandering around a grocery store in another country, I can imagine what the lives of its citizens are like. In Italy, I saw one aisle (过道) filled entirely with different types of pasta. I smiled to myself and thought that Italians really do love their pasta. 【小题3】 Because I can see the types of things that Germans might buy on impulse (一时冲动).

【小题4】 But it is important to get involved in the daily lives of a country’s citizens and know more about them through grocery shopping. I can watch kids begging their parents for sweets. Or watch couples pick up snacks and drinks for a party on a Friday night. 【小题5】 Indeed, it’s a chance to slow down and imagine what people’s lives are like, and find that they are not so different from our own.

When you enter a supermarket, you see shelves full of food. You walk between the shelves. You carry a shopping basket and your food is in it.

You probably hear soft, slow music as you walk between the shelves. If you hear fast music, you walk quickly. The supermarket plays slow music. You walk slowly and have more time to buy things.

Maybe you go to the meat department first. There is some meat on sale, and you want to find it. The manager of the supermarket knows where customers enter the meat department. The cheaper meat is at the other end of the meat department, away from where the customers enter. You have to walk by all the expensive meat before you find the cheaper meat. Maybe you will buy some of the expensive meat instead of the meat on sale.

The department selling milk and milk products such as butter and milk powder is called the dairy department. Many customers like milk that has only a little butterfat in it. One store has three different jars of low fat milk. One says “1 percent fat” on the jar. The second says “99 percent fat free”. The third says “LOW FAT”   in big letters and “1%” in small letters. As you can see, all the milk has the same amount of fat. The milk is all the same. However, in this store the three jars of milk cost three different amounts of money. Maybe the customers will buy the milk that costs the most.

Most of the food in supermarkets is very pleasing. It all says “Buy me!” to the customers. The expensive meat says “Buy me!” as you walk by. The   expensive milk jar says “Buy me! I have less fat.”