Waiting tends to make people more patient-a new study revealed
Waiting tends to make people more patient-a new study revealed. According to a recent study by Ayelet Fishbach, Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, waiting can provide a payoff for consumers by helping them make better decisions.
She co-authored with former Chicago Booth postdoctoral fellow Xiani Dai, the study.
To test their hypothesis, the two researchers conducted a series of experiments in the U.S., mainland China and Hong Kong.
In one study, the researchers invited participants to sign up to join a subject pool for online studies. In exchange for signing up, all participants were invited to enter one of two lotteries: one would pay out a 50-dollar-prize sooner; the other would pay out a 55-dollar-prize later.
The participants were divided into three groups, each having to wait a different amount of time before given their potential prize: the first group was told they could win 50 dollars in three days or 55 dollars in 23 days; the second could win 50 dollars in 30 days or 55 dollars in 50 days; and the third group was told they could win 50 dollars in 30 days or 55 dollars in 50 days, but they had to wait before choosing a potential reward.
Researchers contacted members of the third group 27 days later to ask for a decision, at which point the participants, like those in the first group, had to choose between waiting three days or 23 days to potentially receive a prize.
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But among people in the third group, who had been waiting several weeks to make their choice, 86 percent chose to wait for the larger reward.
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Source-ANI