Negotiating: how much should we offer to maximise acceptance?

Why people believe weird things about money - Los Angeles Times

Would you rather be A or B?

A is waiting in line at a movie
theater. When he gets to the ticket window, he is told that as he is
the 100,000th customer of the theater, he has just won $100.

B
is waiting in line at a different theater. The man in front of him wins
$1,000 for being the 1-millionth customer of the theater. Mr. B wins
$150.

Amazingly, most people said that they would prefer to be A. In other words, they would rather forgo $50 in order to alleviate the feeling of regret that comes with not winning the thousand bucks. Essentially, they were willing to pay $50 for regret therapy.

(…) How much should you offer? Why not suggest a $90-$10 split? If your
game partner is a rational, self-interested money-maximizer — the very
embodiment of Homo economicus – he isn’t going to turn down a
free 10 bucks, is he? He is. Research shows that proposals that offer
much less than a $70-$30 split are usually rejected.

January 14, 2008 · Filed Under Business, Interesting tidbits, Power Phrases, Persuasion, Society

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