To reach this conclusion, researchers teamed up with an upscale restaurant and presented 139 people with a menu that offered an all-you-can-eat buffet for either $4 or $8. Both groups ate about the same amount, but the people who paid $8 reported enjoying their food 11% more, while those who paid $4 reported feeling like they’d overeaten and feeling more guilty about the meal overall. “We were surprised to find that pricing has very little impact on how much someone eats, but a huge impact on how they interpret their experience and enjoy their food,” says Ozge Sigirci, study coauthor and researcher at Cornell’s Food & Brand Lab. Even more interesting: “People paying less money not only rated their food as less tasty and less enjoyable, but they rated each additional piece of food they ate as even less enjoyable than the one before.” The reason money buys your taste buds’ happiness is fairly simple: “Most people assume they’re getting a higher quality meal when they pay a higher price,” says Sigirci. Consider this another example of how consumers’ feelings and behavior are affected by external cues, like these five sneaky ways restaurants trick you into eating more.
