Comments on: The Stroop Effect and Your Wallet

By: Bill in Houston

Bill in Houston — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:10:23 +0000

I can see the images today.

Now that I’ve seen them I remember this. We had this “quiz” in a Psych class I had as an undergrad. It was fun to hear people rip through the color/word match and then get all tongue tied with the color match part. Most of the class ended up laughing hard enough to draw looks from passersby in the hallway.

By: Robin Crickman

Robin Crickman — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:56:51 +0000

I would miss a lot of good deals if I followed
your advice. I am always on the lookout for a
new generic version of products I buy or a new
brand with a low cost introductory price if I
think I will like this item. My local grocery
often packages up meat products that they were
using a portion of for deli items into an
brandless package and sells for a fraction of
the regular price. Things like cold cuts,
sausage, mixed ground meat (wonderful for
meatloafs). These are perfectly wholesome,
they just lack the fancy packaging the regular
version comes with. I’ll trade that for half
off. But this is an unpredictable offering
so I can’t count of finding any particular
thing. I buy as much as I can store when I
get the chance. But then, my husband swears
I am the only person he knows who can window
shop a grocery store and I do seem to carry
a list or normal prices for things I buy in
my head. I know, some folks are odd.

By: Ryan P Smith

Ryan P Smith — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:29:30 +0000

The shopping list tip is huge. Without a list at the grocery store I end up buying at least 20% more than with a list and usually through it away expired and uneaten.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:55:27 +0000

I think the comments about whether we’re supposed to say the color or the word are themselves a perfect example of the type of distractions that can occur when shopping if not of the Stroop Effect. One seemingly little faux pas has derailed the message, to some extent at least.

Anyway, very creative post and one worth remembering.

By: Becoming Jane

Becoming Jane — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:55:03 +0000

I am surprised that most people focused on the first part of the article. To me the important part was the second part applying the lesson learned from the color/words. Here’s a shopping hint I relearned recently when my husband was looking for a drywall saw. He had chosen one costing $10 and asked if I saw anything cheaper. Looking up, way up since I am only 5 feet tall, I saw two other brands for only $5. The lesson is that stores often put more costly items at eye level. Look up and save some money.

By: Another Elizabeth

Another Elizabeth — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:02:44 +0000

Aww… I hope she feels better soon and the rest of you don’t get it. That’s no fun!

* Pedialyte (or generic) is good stuff!

By: Shelly

Shelly — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:20:17 +0000

Just wanted to let you know that the paragraph below the experiment still says “throw out some of the information presented to you (the actual color of the words), and evaluate only what remains (the words themselves).”

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:31:37 +0000

Trent’s comment sums up why he will always lag Get Rich Slowly. While JD would have apologized for his mistake and thanked the readers for pointing it out, Trent merely justifies making the mistake. No sir, this is not how it’s done.

By: Rob Bennett

Rob Bennett — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:59:01 +0000

I think that the point being made here is an important one. Humans don’t generally think through the use of logic chains. We use shortcuts. That’s not bad. Shortcuts usually help. But they can get us into lots of trouble too.

The big problem is that we are not aware of the shortcuts we are employing. It’s good advice to watch out for this. But it’s a tough business trying to become aware of the circumstances in which we believe we have thought something through but in which we really have not done so.

Rob

By: Spaceknarf

Spaceknarf — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:37:28 +0000

About the Ten Second Rule: I read in a paper last week (sorry, no link) that people make better decisions when they _don’t_ think about the item for a few minutes. But this applies more to a this/that situation than a buy/don’t buy situation.

By: c

Fri, 08 May 2009 02:33:27 +0000

just so you know, now the text above the images is right, but below it reads

“…throw out some of the information presented to you (the actual color of the words), and evaluate only what remains (the words themselves).”

when it should read

“…throw out some of the information presented to you (the words themselves), and evaluate only what remains (the actual color of the words).”

’sokay, I think we’ve all had days like that… hope your daughter feels better!

By: Trent

Trent — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:38:55 +0000

I edited the explanatory text about the color words. Today has been a crazy day, with the free PDF book needing updated download links almost constantly and my sick daughter throwing up all over me multiple times, and I didn’t get a chance to give this a final proofreading.

By: Bill in NC

Bill in NC — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:15:09 +0000

Make up a price book for grocery shopping.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:37:53 +0000

I suggest proofreading before publishing. Just a thought. This is much more than a missing period or extra comma.

By: MLR

MLR — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:47:17 +0000

You guys are unforgiving :)

Good points about the grocery store!

By: DollarDream$

DollarDream$ — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:40:10 +0000

You mean say the COLORS Trent?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:47:37 +0000

Agree with the above posters, but it’s ok, we knew what you meant. :)

By: J

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:35:31 +0000

saying the colour, not the word is harder.

By: Steven@HundredGoals.com

Steven@HundredGoals.com — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:02:10 +0000

When grocery shopping I find myself “lost” in the spaghetti sauce aisle (I may have to just decide to make my own). It is impossible for me to ever find what I am looking for. I definately need to have focused attention here…

Thanks for the post, I’ve seen this sort of thing before. Isn’t psychology fun!?

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:40:21 +0000

Yeah, you had it backwards. It’s easy to say the words.

Good example, though!