Yesterday I saw an interesting story:
Three friends went to an inn. The price of each room was 10 dollar, so they totally paid 30 dollar to the inn-keeper. Then the inn-keeper decided to give them a discount, so asked the server return 5 dollars to them. But the server only returned 1 dollar to each one and pocketed the other $2. Therefore, the situation was same to each one paid $9 plus the $2 which was pocketed by the server (9*3+2=27+2=29), totally should be $29. However we remember they paid $30, where is the disappeared 1 dollar?
It seems undoubtedly logical; actually we are misled by the wrong logic of the story-teller. Our thinking automatically follows the way that has been told. Thus I think about the similar condition in human response.
This reminds me another story:
One person stood on the square, looked up watching the sky. And then another one came over and also raised his head curiously. After a moment, a crowd gathered on the square watching the sky. Finally what? Nobody knew what others were looking, and the fact was the first one stood and raised his head just because of nosebleed.
This interesting story illustrates the following behaviors in human response. People’s behaviors are not only affected by environmental setting but also by other people around. This feature often is applied in retails and sales. Some retail traders employ several persons specially crowding round their stores or standing in a line for attracting customers. This way is especially effective in China which fully utilize people’s curiosity and following response.