- The Find: Your brain is hard-wired to believe that more expensive advice is better advice.
- The Source: Research from Francesca Gino at Carnegie Mellon University published in “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes DOI” and discussed in the British Psychological Society blog.
The Takeaway: Gino gave her research subjects a quiz on American history, dividing them into two groups. One group received free tips in the form of previous participants’ answers, the other group had to pay for the same information. Those that were forced to pay for the information, Gino found, were much more likely to act on it. When Gino upped the price, the rate at which the participants used it went up as well. If we pay for advice, it seems, we feel compelled to take it to justify the expense, whether or not its actually good advice.
The lesson here for managers? There’s no group more beset by highly paid gurus and fix-it men waiving plans and statistics (and gigantic bills) offering to improve your business. Should you choose to engage their services beware your unconscious bias and give a long cold look to their advice before implementing it.
