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Psychology of Steam's Sale

Autor:   •  April 18, 2018  •  1,670 Words (7 Pages)  •  487 Views

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The results of these findings helped researchers better understand why humans have the desire to fight against restrictions of their freedoms. In regards to the Steam Summer Sale, Steam places a restriction on what games can be bought at a discounted price and when they can be bought at that price before its too late. Psychological reactance might be the reason that makes people think that they’ll get more enjoyment out of games that will soon become unavailable (Madigan 2013). This can be held true for any area of sales and purchases.

Madigan (2013) also mentioned a study describing the effects of psychological reactance. In this study, a group of psychologists examined the reactions of Florida housewives after they were told that certain laundry detergents were banned for containing environmentally dangerous phosphates. The housewives directly affected by this loss of choice proceeded to buy more of the product and even rated it higher than other health approved detergents. The results of this study showed how people will always seek what they can’t have, even if its not always the best choice. The same thing can be said about Steam sales. Not all of the games listed on the Steam Summer Sale are worth an person’s money. In fact, someone can spend the same amount of money on another game not listed on the sale, but since it doesn’t have any restrictions or barriers placed on it, that person might simply view it as less valuable.

The Steam Summer Sale is advertised as the go-to place to get the best deals on games. Everything examined in this article revolves around the scarcity tactic. There is no known research that specifically studies the ways in which scarcity in Steam sales can influence a person’s decisions. However, there is research examining the ways in which apparent scarcity can subconsciously influence a person’s decision making. Worchel (1975) examined how less of something can increase its perceived value. Each subject in the experiment was given a chocolate chip cookie from one of two jars. One of the jars had 10 cookies in it, while the other only had 2. The cookies from the two-cookie jar were rated the highest even though both jars had the same cookies in them. The results of this experiment can be compared to the way Steam handles their online deals. Everything that Steam sells is digital, so there is really no limited supply of something. Despite this, the scarcity effect still applies. In Steam, its not so much the scarcity of the physical product that people react to, but the opportunity to buy it. Based on these findings, I can hypothesize that Steam’s Summer Sale is influential due to the fact that people hate losing an opportunity to obtain something that is limited in number and in high demand.

Research suggests that items and opportunities become more desirable and valuable when they become less available. The author of the examined article states how different social influences such as scarcity, commitment, and consistency can affect a person’s decision making when buying things at discounted prices (Madigan 2013). I agree with the author’s description and views on the subject. I too have found myself buying multiple games from Steam’s Summer Sale whenever the time arises. The simple fact that I’ll be buying something at a reduced price gives me a sense of accomplishment. The use of multiple social influences in order to get people to buy more of something is a very effective way of doing things. It will more often than not, always succeed. Human nature simply doesn’t allow us to avoid getting caught in the midst of big sales and discounts, especially if there’s a sense of unavailability and restriction. People always want what they can’t have. I’m pretty sure Black Friday is considered a national holiday for a lot of people and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, its wise to have a little extra knowledge on these types of events.

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