Heuristic of the Day: Scarcity Heuristic

What on earth could make you buy a deep freezer and $1,000 worth of frozen foods? Fear of limited supply.

The scarcity Heuristic causes us to place a higher value on goods or products that are hard to obtain and a lower value on those that are easy to obtain, regardless of the benefit we receive from them. While operating under the Scarcity Heuristic, an individual will make decisions based on how limited a product or service is, how difficult it is to attain, and whether the window of opportunity to attain it might be closing.?

The “buying what is limited” approach often leads to impulsive purchases, hoarding behavior, and wasted resources like time and money.

However, we can learn to hack the Scarcity Heuristic and fight impulsive purchasing and overspending. Follow these 3 steps to get back control and outsmart marketing schemes:

1. Increase your awareness of this heuristic. Once you understand it, you will be able to identify situations where the Scarcity Heuristic is influencing your rational thinking.
2. If you find yourself about to purchase due to limited supply, stop! Think: Do I really need this many? What is motivating this purchase?
3. Research! Compare prices and determine whether this is really a great deal that you don’t want to miss. (Sometimes it will be.)

Read more about Scarcity Heuristics at the Heuristics Science Insitute: https://newristics.com/heuristics-biases/scarcity-heuristic

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