The identifiability effect - the human tendency to help identified victims to a greater extent than unidentified - has been proved of being an important aspect of moral judgment. However, the endowment effect - the human tendency to overestimate our properties - is unexplored within this area, such as the impact of identifiability on the endowment effect. For the purpose of examining the impact of identifiability and endowment on moral dilemmas, an experiment with 192 participants was conducted, using a charity scenario concerning African children, framed as a trolley dilemma. The results showed that a majority of the participants choose to maximize the number of children saved. No significant effects of identifiability or endowment were found. The main conclusion of the study was that the dilemma affected men and women differently. Women felt stronger feelings of sympathy, were less confident in choosing and perceived the choice more difficult than men.

abstract: Previous research on experiences of the endowment effect and buyer's remorse has often failed to compare the two seemingly related phenomena. The current study attempts to provide a framework in which the two can be compared and to offer a possible suggestion as to when it may be beneficial to experience either the endowment effect or buyer's remorse, namely situations of resource scarcity versus abundance. The current study employed an online dating paradigm in which resource scarcity was operationalized as the sex ratio of users on the site. Two hundred and one participants were exposed to a favorable sex ratio, an unfavorable sex ratio, or a no information control condition and asked to bid on potential dates. Once matched with a potential date, participants were asked how willing they would be to give up their date and the minimum amount of points they would request to do so. These dependent variables served as indicators of experiences of the endowment effect or buyer's remorse. Results indicated that the sex ratio of the online dating site did not influence experiences of the endowment effect versus buyer's remorse. Potential mediators and moderators were also investigated although no significant effects were found. Possible reasons for the null results are discussed as well as future directions. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Psychology 2014

<p>Marketers have long looked for observables that could explain differences in consumer behavior. Initial attempts have centered on demographic factors, such as age, gender, and race. Although such variables are able to provide some useful information for segmentation (Bass, Tigert, and Longdale 1968), more recent studies have shown that variables that tap into consumers’ social classes and personal values have more predictive accuracy and also provide deeper insights into consumer behavior. I argue that one demographic construct, religion, merits further consideration as a factor that has a profound impact on consumer behavior. In this dissertation, I focus on two types of religious guidance that may influence consumer behaviors: religious teachings (being content with one’s belongings), and religious problem-solving styles (reliance on God). </p><p>Essay 1 focuses on the well-established endowment effect and introduces a new moderator (religious teachings on contentment) that influences both owner and buyers’ pricing behaviors. Through fifteen experiments, I demonstrate that when people are primed with religion or characterized by stronger religious beliefs, they tend to value their belongings more than people who are not primed with religion or who have weaker religious beliefs. These effects are caused by religious teachings on being content with one’s belongings, which lead to the overvaluation of one’s own possessions. </p><p>Essay 2 focuses on self-control behaviors, specifically healthy eating, and introduces a new moderator (God’s role in the decision-making process) that determines the relationship between religiosity and the healthiness of food choices. My findings demonstrate that consumers who indicate that they defer to God in their decision-making make unhealthier food choices as their religiosity increases. The opposite is true for consumers who rely entirely on themselves. Importantly, this relationship is mediated by the consumer’s consideration of future consequences. This essay provides an explanation to the existing mixed findings on the relationship between religiosity and obesity.</p> / Dissertation

ABSTRACT Title:                         Lucrative deals How service offers and its clients is forms by Optional Framing                 Level:                       Bachelor, Business Administration Author:                     Gabriel Krogius, Mikaela Sörensen Supervisor:              Jonas Kågström, department of economics Date:                         2013, August Introduction:           That the human mind may be directed by how an offer is designed is not news. However, what is new in the following thesis is whether a person is affected in the case of a service rather than, as previously research, a physical product. Does a person find it harder to separate with something rather than to add an option? Aim:                          The aim for this thesis is to examine how Optional Framing has affection on service offerings/companies, and in this case on real estate brokerage services. Is it, as earlier, when the human can form her own offer, the final price ends up higher when she is about to add options than removing them? Method:                    The thesis emanates to achieve earlier results where the difference in this case is that our thesis is targeting service offerings. It applies through a positivistic deductive method. The empirical data is collected from a quantitative sample of survey answers, where one part of the groups is faced to remove options from a deluxe-offer and the other part of the group is about to add options to a standard-offer. The survey was created with episodic support from a sample of interviews with active real estate agents. Discussion:               The thesis shows that earlier results approve within service companies and its offers, in this case real estate brokerage. We can interpret that the human mind is directed through Optional Framing and that the deluxe-offer ends with a higher price and more options to it than the standard-offer. The correlation analysis shows us connection between some of the offers services that can benefit real estate brokerage in the future. Future research:     We hope that foundations have been created for future research that can lead on to further understanding about the customers view on real estate brokerage services and how to make them more attractive. Contribution:           Real estate brokerage can benefit from the results in this thesis where they further can implement the work from comparison of theory and empirical.  Key words:              Loss Aversion, The Endowment Effect, Status Quo Bias and also Framing/Optional Framing.

Hoarding is characterized by (a) the persistent difficulty discarding personal items; (b) clutter that interferes with living areas; and (c) significant distress or functional impairment. Hoarding symptoms often emerge in childhood and adolescence, yet very few studies on hoarding in this age group exist. Current models of hoarding emphasize impairments in decision-making, yet the literature on decision-making processes in hoarding presents inconsistent findings. Preliminary cognitive studies in adults suggest that hoarding may be associated with deficits in value attribution (the tendency to assign value to personal items). Thus, we propose that the Endowment Effect (EE), in which ownership of an item increases its perceived value, may be informative for the study of hoarding symptoms. This study investigated the EE in youth (children and adolescents) with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and hoarding symptoms. Given that hoarding involves significant difficulty discarding personal items, we hypothesized that hoarding in youth is associated with a higher EE. Thirty youth participants with a confirmed DSM-5 diagnosis of OCD completed the Endowment Task, a game script of the EE; the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), a test of cognitive flexibility; and the Balloon-Analogue Risk Task (BART), a test of risky decision-making. The Children’s Saving Inventory-Parent Version (CSI) was used to measure severity of hoarding symptoms. We divided our sample into thirds based on CSI scores to create a ‘High Hoarding’ group (HH; n=12; mean CSI (S.D.)=30.83 (5.47446)) and a ‘Low Hoarding’ group (LH; n=10; mean CSI (S.D.)=5.00 (3.16228)). The HH group demonstrated a higher average EE than the LH group (average EE, 3.22 and 1.59, respectively). In contrast, no significant between-group differences were found on the WCST and the BART (t=0.901, p=0.378 and t=0.338, p=0.739, respectively). The results of this thesis suggest that psychological ownership plays an important role in the manifestation of hoarding symptoms. Thus, we propose that hoarding might be associated with a specific decision-making deficit related to personal possessions. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The endowment effect occurs when owners assign more value to the products they own than do non-owners to the same products. Research on the endowment effect has identified factors that enhance or mitigate the effect, such as the duration of ownership, as well as information processing differences between sellers and buyers. However, these studies have primarily involved immediate transactions between sellers and buyers. An interesting question emerges as to whether the endowment effect will be observed for temporally distant transactions. The main purpose of the first two studies is to examine how the temporal distance from transactions influences customers' evaluations of products by comparing buyers' willingness to pay and sellers' willingness to accept in the present and future. Despite the fact that consumers often collect information today about product or services that will be consumed in the future, such as window shopping or looking at houses or cars for a future purchase, a limited number of endowment studies have considered the temporal effect on willingness to pay and willingness to accept. More specifically, studies 1, 2, and 3 find that the endowment effect disappears as temporal distance from the transaction increases. Study 2 and 3 demonstrates that when the transaction is expected to occur in the near future, sellers focus on their products, while buyers focus on their money. These different cognitive perspectives affect price gaps between sellers and buyers. Specifically study 2 demonstrates that when events are in the distant future, sellers' and buyers' cognitive perspectives change, and the endowment effect is eliminated. In study 3, the effects of role and time on memory trace and information structure were investigate to investigate the salience differences in transaction. Finally, the underlying psychological and temporal mechanism driving the salience differences investigated in study 4-a and 4-b.

This thesis provides a detailed analysis of the so-called `house money' or windfall endowment effect and its main determinants. Chapter 1 provides a detailed survey on the literature related to the house money effect. This effect according to Thaler and Johnson (1990) - refers to the situation where prior gains mitigate the influence of loss aversion and facilitate risk-seeking. The concept borrows its name from the expression employed in the gambling parlance of "playing with the house money", which is used when people gamble while ahead. As the literature has used a variety of concepts and ideas to describe the house money effect, this chapter presents and discusses them within the environment and the related literature that they have emerged. This is done in order to highlight the predominant answers to the main research questions raised in the various strands of the literature, namely: (i) whether people treat money differently depending on its origin; and (ii) the implications of the house money effect for the experimental methodology in economics. The literature is organised and presented according to the context in which the above two research questions have been examined. By presenting results in each particular context, we pin down the contextual differences that might be responsible for the presence (or absence) of the house money effect, and lay the initial ground work to answer a third research question: What drives the house money effect? In this regard, after we demonstrate the context-dependency of the house money effect we present the two main interpretations that it has received, namely that the house money effect is a result of different mental accounting over windfall gains (`windfall effect') or a result of fairness or deservingness concerns ('Lockean desert effect'). Chapter 2 re-examines the house money effect and explores its main driving forces. For that, we employ a novel experimental design utilising a within-subject approach, coupled with the use of three different contexts of economic decisions (a trust game, a set of lotteries and a public good game). Both the within-subject experimental design and the three contexts of economic decisions allow us to better test the two main interpretations of the house money effect. Our experimental data confirm the presence of the house money effect both in the decision to trust (but not in the decision of trustworthiness) in the trust game and in the decision to contribute in the public account of the public good game. However, our findings do not support the hypothesis that changes in risk behaviour of participants are due to different sources of money, suggesting that risk attitudes are robust and independent of the origin of money along the experiment. Therefore, our findings seem to favour interpretations of the house money effect as a result of 'just desert' or fairness preferences rather than the result of different mental accounting over windfall gains. Chapter 3 combines two branches of experimental literature, namely the house money effect and the literature on individual differences in social preferences. Both the house money effect and individual differences have been used extensively to explain cooperation in social dilemmas (and its decline over time). Here, we test the implications of house money on reciprocal behaviour, that is, whether participants in economic experiments are less likely to reciprocate when earned money rather than windfall money is at stake. Using the innovative experimental design of Fischbacher et al. (2001) with strategy method, we classify participants according to their behaviour in a linear public good game, and by adding the within-subject element in our experimental design we test the robustness of this classification across the different origin of endowments. Our results indicate that the types' classification is robust across the origin of money. Contrary to Harrison (2007), we find that participants' decision to free ride or not (contribute or not) is independent of the origin of money, but given that the decision to contribute has been made, contribution levels may vary -actually be lower- when money is earned rather than windfall endowed. We also elicit beliefs about others' contributions and test how these beliefs affected by the "house money" and in turn how they affect the decision to contribute. This discussion relates to what the literature has characterised so far as "anticipatory reciprocity".

Diploma thesis deals with topic of given phenomena of behavioural economics. Specifically, it deals with endowment effect, decoy effect and paradox of choice. The goal of the thesis is to verify influence of given phenomena of behavioural economics in practice. Research part deals with analysis of the phenomena which influence decision-making in financial or economic issues and causes individual to behave irrationally and not like Homo oeconomicus. In an analytical part are then given phenomena verified by method of quantitative analysis in real market on given company. Quantitative analysis deals predominantly with breakdown of customer reactions on marketing strategies of given company in defined period. Integral part of the thesis is based on executed research draw practical recommendations for examined company.

Title: How the expression “in the bargain” affects the valuation of an item Level: Final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration  Author: Pontus Axenfalk and Markus Gustafsson Supervisor: Patrik Sörqvist Date: 2022 - June Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction between endowment effect and product bundling. More specifically, we intend to investigate whether the size of the endowment effect in relation to a purchased product becomes larger or smaller depending on whether the product is bundled together with another product at the time of purchase. Method: The study is based on a quantitative research method with a deductive approach. An experiment was conducted where data were collected via two web-based surveys, which through a random sample generated 86 responses (43 per survey). Data were analyzed in SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Results and conclusions: Since the average value of Willingness to Accept is higher than Willingness to Pay in a product bundle in comparison with an individual purchase, the conclusion can be cautiously drawn that according to the descriptive statistics an interaction is formed between endowment effect and product bundling.Contribution of the thesis: The results of the study give us strong indications that product bundling can be used to increase consumers' perceived value of a product, which is knowledge that cannot least be applied by business economists and marketers.Suggestions for future research: We believe that it would be interesting to carry out studies where a large sample is looking for the interaction between endowment effect for the various techniques in product bundling to be able to present a result with statistical certainty more strongly. Key words: Product bundling, Endowment effect, Willingness to pay and Willingness to accept. / Titel: Hur uttrycket ”på köpet” påverkar värderingen av en vara Nivå: Examensarbete på̊ grundnivå̊ (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Pontus Axenfalk och Markus Gustafsson Handledare: Patrik Sörqvist  Datum: 2022 - Juni Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka interaktionen mellan endowment effect och produktbuntning. Närmare bestämt avser vi att undersöka om storleken på endowment effect i relation till en inköpt produkt blir större eller mindre beroende på huruvida produkten bundlas tillsammans med en annan produkt vid inköpstillfället.  Metod: Studien är baserad på en kvantitativ forskningsmetod med ett deduktivt angreppssätt. Ett experiment genomfördes där data samlades in via två webbaserade enkäter, som genom ett slumpmässigt urval genererade 86 svar (43 per enkät). Data analyserades i SPSS och Microsoft Excel.  Resultat och slutsats: Baserat på att medelvärdet för Willingness to Accept är högre än Willingness to Pay vid en produktbuntning i jämförelse med ett enskilt köp kan slutsatsen försiktigt dras att enligt den deskriptiva statistiken bildas en interaktion mellan endowment effect och produktbuntning. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens resultat ger oss starka indikationer på att produktbuntning kan användas för att öka konsumenters upplevda värde av en produkt vilket är kunskap som inte minst går att tillämpa hos företagsekonomer och marknadsförare. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Med vår studie i bakgrunden anser vi att det vore intressant att genomföra studier där man på ett stort urval letar efter interaktionen mellan endowment effect för de olika tekniker inom produktbuntning för att kunna presentera ett resultat som är statistiskt säkerställt. Nyckelord: Produktbuntning, endowment effect, Willingness to pay och Willingness to accept

Research in consumer behavior has focused predominantly on how consumers make purchase decisions. However, much less attention has been directed toward examining post-purchase behaviors. In this dissertation, I examine how ownership affects individuals' disposal decisions of their current possessions. In essay 1, I investigate how differences in duration of ownership affect consumers' food waste behaviors. I demonstrate that the same food products are more likely to be wasted as well as wasted more of when they are owned for a longer duration (vs. purchased more recently). I also delineate how this wastage can be reduced. In essay 2, I explore how a specific post-ownership experience, evaluations (positive vs. negative), influences consumers' recycling behaviors, even when these evaluations (e.g., taste of a drink) do not affect recyclability (e.g., of the bottle). I demonstrate that consumers will be more likely to recycle products associated with positive (vs. negative) evaluations, and, thus, will be more likely to recycle a drink's bottle when the taste is evaluated more positively. / Doctor of Philosophy / When thinking about the field of consumer behavior, most might believe it to involve studying how consumers evaluate products and make purchase decisions. Very few might believe that studying post-purchase behaviors also falls within the realm of consumer behavior. Unfortunately, these beliefs are quite common, and are not held by lay people alone. In fact, in the past, even researchers thought of consumer research as being synonymous with buyer behavior. However, researchers now recognize that consumer behavior is a dynamic ongoing process, which does not just start and end with product purchase. In this dissertation, I focus on one type of consumers' post-purchase behavior, disposal decisions. Specifically, I look at how ownership affects individuals' disposal decisions of their current possessions. In essay 1, I focus on consumers' food waste behavior. I study how differences in how long they have owned a food product (duration-of-ownership) affect their food evaluations as well as food waste behavior. I find that even when two food products are otherwise identical (i.e., same manufacturing/expiration dates, not expired, previously unopened), consumers are more likely to waste as well as waste more of the one purchased earlier (a longer duration-of-ownership) than that purchased more recently (a shorter duration-of-ownership). I also suggest one strategy to help reduce this food wastage. In essay 2, I focus on consumers' recycling behavior. I study how product evaluations affect consumers' recycling decisions. I find that even when these evaluations (e.g., taste of a drink) have nothing to do with the container (e.g., bottle of the drink), consumers are more likely to recycle the drink's bottle when they like the taste than when they do not like the taste of the drink.