Quantity Distortion Effect in Consumers' Perception of Different Volumes and Weights of Money: A Pilot Study. Issue 1 (August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guido, Gianluigi; Piper, Luigi; Prete, M. Irene; Mileti, Antonio; Fonda, Marco
• Is Part Of: Perceptual and motor skills. Volume 123:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 175
• Page End: 189
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Subjects: perception of volume and weight -- physical value of money -- quantity distortion effect -- monetary quantities; Perception -- Periodicals; Motor ability -- Periodicals; Motor Skills; Perception; Psychology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 152
• DOI: 10.1177/0031512516660717
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-5125

Abstract

Consumers tend to misunderstand the physical value of cash money by adopting improper anchors for their judgments (e.g., banknote size and shape, currency denominations, etc.). In a pilot study carried out on a sample of 242 participants ( n = 116 men; M age = 29.6 year, SD = 10.8), a quantity distortion effect was demonstrated by evaluating consumers' misperceptions of different monetary quantities, either in terms of volume or weight, using banknotes of the same denomination (€50). A threshold value was found, for both volume (€876, 324) and weight (€371, 779), above (below) which consumers tend to overrate (underrate) monetary amounts. The theoretical and operative implications are discussed.