Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development
Series Vol. 36 , 10 November 2023
Open
Access | Article
The Analysis of Focusing Illusion and Irrational Behavior in the Field of Consumption
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The focusing illusion is perhaps one of the most important factors for the occurrence of biases in intuitive predictions. This paper investigates the cognitive bias in detail, and exactly how focusing illusion affects an individual’s irrationality in daily life. The study also demonstrates how would focusing illusion affect the selection and purchase of private cars of individuals. To figure out whether focusing illusion occurs and whether it is the major factor affecting customer’s mind and thinking, the paper explores the customer’s consumption behaviors and the seller’s marketing strategies when choosing in between potential available options within the allowance of their ability to purchase. To some extent, the viewpoints of existing researches and this study are basically consistent. Both clearly point out the irrational consumption behavior caused by the focusing illusion. In consider of this, potential theoretical methods are proposed to rectify consumer’s and society’s point of view, avoid the trap and consequences brought by the focusing illusion. These includes solutions such as defocusing and delay in decision-making.
Keywords
focusing illusion, focalism, irrational behavior
References
1. Bergstad C.J., Gamble A., Hagman O., et al. Affective–symbolic and instrumental–independence psychological motives mediating effects of socio-demographic variables on daily car use. Journal of Transport Geography, 2011, 19(1): 33-38.
2. Shvartsman D. Tesla growth and production statistics: How many vehicles are sold across the globe? http://www.Investing.com, last accessed 2023/2/14.
3. Schkade D.A., Kahneman D. Does living in California make people happy? A focusing illusion in judgments of life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 1998, 9(5): 340-346.
4. Bakó B., Neszveda, G., Dezső L. When irrelevant alternatives do matter. The effect of focusing on loan decisions. Theory and Decision, 2017, 84(1): 123-141.
5. Bakó B., Steinhart J., Kirchler E., et al. Designing choice sets to exploit focusing illusion. http://unipub.lib.uni-corvinus.hu/2452, last accessed 2016/8/18.
6. Adcock solutions. https://www.adcocksolutions.com/post/no-19-focusing-effect, last accessed 2023/4/17.
7. Mercedes-Benz Homepage. https://www.mercedes-benz.com, last accessed 2023/4/12.
8. Edge.org. https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11984, last accessed 2019/1/3.
9. McKinsey. Understanding and shaping consumer behavior in the next normal. https://www.mckinsey.com, last accessed 2020/7/24.
10. Shafir E. The behavioral foundations of public policy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2013.
11. The Drum Homepage. Understanding the focusing illusion is key to better advertising. https://www.thedrum.com/opinion, last accessed 2019/01/09.
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open Access Instruction).
- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Economic Management and Green Development
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-093-6
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-094-3
- Published Date
- 10 November 2023
- Series
- Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
- ISSN (Print)
- 2754-1169
- ISSN (Online)
- 2754-1177
- DOI
- 10.54254/2754-1169/36/20231793
- Copyright
- 10 November 2023
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited