Several times I have been wanted to post something like this, but as it affects the human perception and thus all things we buy and use I thought it could use its own topic.
Please read
I was searching for a much older research done in The Netherlands many years ago, before the internet became what it was today, but could not find that.
The results were smilar, but the Dutch researhes used a group of 500 student to do the tasting.
It all boils down to the fact that when a subject thinks the price is higher, more parts of the brain will be engaged and a product is rated higher.
quality.
I think this is a very interesting, the brain actually works harder when we know the price is higher.
Does this mean we should be looking at things differently?
Well hardwired biological processes are rather tricky to overcome.
But we can IMHO safely assume this budget flashlight could be a tad better then we precieve it and that very expensive flashligh might just be a little less.
Maybe when a BLF meet and greet is organised somewhere the people going there should prepare 1 flashlight to be reviewed by the others in such a way the brand of the parts is not easy to spot. Who knows what would come out of that.
I for one have ever since I read about it always tried to look as objective as possible at new stuff and not take into consideration what the price was.
And on the other hand, the marketing trick of labeling a FROM XXX NOW ONLY YYY ! has the mere effect I see YYY as the top to be paid for such an item.
Pen and Teller BS , on HBO years back. Filled several different bottles with a garden hose in alley. Went in expensive restaurant. Had people taste while they told them BS story about Alpine mountains, Natural springs etc etc…
The people could taste the difference and preferred the more expensive sounding garden hose water
And this is kind of hard to wrap your mind around, but…IT ACTUALY DOES TASTE DIFFERENT/BETTER, simply because the brain is working harder and more parts are stimulated.
Very interesting
Our minds are hard wired to think that cheap stuff don’t last long, but that is more and more of a misconception in the last 5 years or so. Most people still think goods stuff can’t come from China, and sometimes when they receive a made in USA product that is inferior in quality, they don’t mind at all and think it’s normal.
When I order water in a restaurant, sometimes the waiter will ask if I want bottled water in an intimidating way. I then give it right back and tell him that we purposely came there because we heard they feature “water on tap”
This is very true, but those of us who understand how things work can break it down to the components and figure out the best, we know Cree emitters are the most efficient and suited to our needs because of testing. We know aluminum is the best body material for our needs because it combines low price with conductivity with thermal transfer (we have all the data). Other metals don’t have the trifecta in their favour, copper is more expensive but more electrically and thermally conductive, and silver is far more expensive then copper. We know which companies make great hosts from reviews and the extensive collections many members have. We know direct thermal stars are best because of simple logic and extensive testing. We know the best circuit boards because we have done extensive testing and have tens of thousands of lights between us, we have determined what is good and what is crap.
Only having price is very incomplete information, we cannot break down the base components and determine the best products like we can with flashlights, some cultures go by style, only companies with good products will go to the trouble of creating stylish products, if its ugly its garbage because style costs money and R&D which costs money to produce (so the theory goes).
Dearly BLF-ers
Knowledge is power but alas also a weakness; Homeopathy would not work on me even though I completely understand the way it can work and know about the scientific proven mind over matter situation or so called ” placebo effect”
Come to think of it, this is a loss for me, how nice would it be to swallow some sugary grains and let my body fight illnesses
Bort you are totally right.
For me long time ago, really long time ago (must be it at least 15 years now) it was a real eye opener to read about this and to realize to look at the parts and their workings rather then a brand. Saved me a lot of money and made me appreciate a lot of things others would discard.
Homeopathy is very dangerous, not because it doesn’t work but because it doesn’t work. If you take it for a cold your not doing yourself any favours but your not doing harm because the cure is rest and time. If you take it for cancer instead of chemotherapy you will likely die because it won’t work and your eschewing legitimate proven therapy.
One big problem with pharmaceutical therapy is that they have an incentive to do only the bare minimum mandated safety testing and obfuscating side effects, especially deadly ones because profit trumps lives and thorough safety testing takes time, money and uncovers problems that would prevent the product from hitting the shelf at all. In addition “natural” or “alternative” therapies are buried even when superior because they can’t be patented, so research is not done and awareness does not exist because synthetics have the money behind them. Then the “alternative” therapies get hyped up by (often but not always) well meaning but misguided charlatans and quacks that appeal to the gullible (instead of real research finding out if they have merit and for what instead of unsubstantiated claims), so in the end everyone loses.
No worries about the off topic, I agree, but at the same time placebo proves that homeopathy could work, just not for me, I rather buy a nice beer instead of 100x dilluted water
(on this off topic subject I once read that when doctors are on strike significant less people die, no matter where it is (dark set back Africa or modern western Europe) makes no difference.
Sorry no source, when i read it the internet was a free place, no idea I should save that on disk, now it is gone as is so much usefull information)
Placebo proves homeopathy can work, as long as the patient does not know about placebo. Unlucky me
I learned long ago not to be sold on anything save for my own opinion of whatever it is. I’ve had some expensive wines that I almost spewed back out because they tasted so awful. My preferred wines were a heck of a lot cheaper but they were at least worth what I paid for them. In the past I’ve worked on cars for a living. There’s nothing enough better in a Beemer, Merc, or Acura to justify their much higher cost, but as long as they can convince people that there is those cars will carry a premium price tag. Some flashlight makers are just like this too
I don’t give a rat’s back end of what the majority of people think about my choices; all I want is my expectations met at a price I’m happy with. If I think you’re intelligent and not trying to “sell me” on something I’ll listen to your opinions and thoughts but no matter what you tell me to expect I’m going to decide for myself in the end even if we differ.
I’ve been lucky to have experienced some of the best this world has to offer in many things, but you’ll not find me with hardly any of it because it was and is rarely worth it’s price or even close. There are a very few things I’ve found where the higher price is justified but there’s a lot less of that than most people think. IMHO, most high-priced stuff is a rip-off and only the lesser intelligent ones accede to being ripped off by buying it.
I’d rather have the extra cash to buy flashlights with- why not?
Phil
