Dollars and Sense

Expectations have been shown to improve performance, enhance the consumption experience, and change our perceptions, thereby affecting our ability to assess value and willingness to pay.

People who expect a cartoon to be funny laugh more;

branding doesn’t just make people say they enjoyed things more; it actually makes these things more enjoyable inside their brains.

people who purchase a new car from the same automaker as they had before pay more than those who are buying that brand of car for the first time.

In July 1911, the Mona Lisa was just another painting. In August 1911, it was stolen from the Louvre. While the authorities tracked it down, there were suddenly huge lines of visitors waiting to view the empty space where the painting had hung. More people went to see the absence of the painting than had gone to see the painting itself prior to the theft. The theft had become a signal of the Mona Lisa’s worth. Surely, no one would steal a worthless painting. The crime brought long-term value to the Mona Lisa and the Louvre.

past performance is simply no guarantee of future success.

We only get one chance to make a first impression;

If we pay $100 for something that we won’t consume for, say, three months, we get the $100 thing, plus the three months of anticipation and daydreaming and excitement. So we get more than we pay for, and when we finally get to consume the thing, we might even feel like we’re getting a bargain.

We’re confronted by self-control issues all the time,

Why do we have such a hard time with self-control? It’s because we tend to value certain things right now in the present much more highly than we value them in the future. Something that’s great for us—but won’t arrive

Today our reality is clearly defined, with details, emotions, and so on. In the future, it is not.

The problem, of course, is that we never get to live in the future. We always live in the present. Today our emotions get in the way. Our emotions right now are real and tangible. Our emotions in the future are, at best, just a prediction. They are imaginary and, in our imagined future, we can control them. So this makes our decisions about the future emotion-free.

To save requires us to value the distant, uncertain future and plan accordingly.

It’s easy to feel good now. It’s hard to feel like we might not feel good later.

Everyone recognizes that the moment we open a phone while driving increases the probability that we will die in a dramatic way. Everyone also recognizes that doing so is a really stupid way to risk our own lives and the lives of others. Nobody thinks it’s a wise choice. Nevertheless, we keep on doing it.

Temptation explains the gap between how we rationally know we should behave and how we emotionally do,

willpower, by definition, requires effort—the effort to resist temptation, to refuse our instincts,

It’s also easier to justify our behaviors than to change them.

we often eat just because we see food—not because we’re hungry, but because it’s there. It’s our instinct to eat because eating feels good. It’s tempting, it is immediate, it is now.

about 60 percent of NBA basketball players are in financial trouble within five years of leaving the game.