LESS IS BETTER - WHEN LOW-VALUE OPTIONS ARE VALUED MORE HIGHLY THAN HIGH-VALUE OPTIONS

This research demonstrates a less-is-better effect in three contexts: (1) a person giving a $45 scarf as a gift was perceived to be more gen erous than one giving a $55 coat; (2) an overfilled ice cream serving with 7 oz of ice cream was valued more than an underfilled serving wit h 8 oz of ice cream; (3) a dinnerware set with 24 intact pieces was ju dged more favourably than one with 31 intact pieces (including the sam e 24) plus a few broken ones. This less-is-better effect occurred only when the options were evaluated separately, and reversed itself when the options were juxtaposed. These results are explained in terms of t he evaluability hypothesis, which states that separate evaluations of objects are often influenced by attributes which are easy to evaluate rather than by those which are important. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.