1. What Products Benefit from the
Scarcity Argument?
Prepared by J. Scott Armstrong (details on him at jscottarmstrong.com).
Please inform Scott about errors and also make suggestions (armstrong@wharton.upenn.edu)
Scott has taken these slides from adprin.com, a site that he founded. That site contains interactive versions of these
slides, along with linked references, videos, and webcasts, all in PPT and PPTX format that you can download.
2. Cookie JarExperiment
___a) 134 subjects were in a room with a jar containing either
two or ten cookies. A second experimenter entered to say his
subjects had eaten more than expected. He asked for the jar
with the ten cookies and replaced it with one that had two
cookies.
___b) In another variation, the 2nd experimenter also changed
jars but said he had accidentally taken the first experimenter’s
jar.
In which case were the cookies more desirable? When you have
written your answer, click on this slide.
Adapted from AdPrin.com
3. Subjects who were told that the cookies were scarce because
of demand thought of them as more desirable than when the
cookie supply was accidentally diminished.
Further Evidence
Experiments found that scarcity only led to
higher demand when the product was already
attractive. Otherwise, subjects showed altruistic
behavior, leaving the scarce product for
someone who wanted it more (Verhallen 1982).
Adapted from AdPrin.com
4. Based on this exercise, write a small application step for yourself,
and set a deadline, preferably within one week. If you are
working with someone else, share your application plan and the
results of your application.
Adapted from AdPrin.com
