Unit Bias 🧫
🧠Psych - 52 / 100
Hey,
Today, We will be talking about the Unit Bias 🧫.
What is it?
Our tendency to want to complete a unit of a given item or task. It is a perception of completion that is satisfying to people.
Example -
People choose, and presumably eat, much greater weights of Tootsie Rolls and pretzels when offered a large as opposed to a small unit size (and given the option of taking as many units as they choose at no monetary cost).
Additionally, they consume substantially more M&M's when the candies are offered with a large as opposed to a small spoon (again with no limits as to the number of spoonfuls to be taken). [1]
Where does it occur?
This has been widely studied in regards to portion control and healthy eating.
Individuals will eat more when portion sizes are larger because of their desire to complete the task.
Why do I need to know?
Humans tend to see things as a single unit and don't take into consideration to size of the unit.
For example, A 12 ounce soda is seen as one unit while a 24 ounce soda is seen as one unit even though it is twice as large as the 12 ounce soda.
Thus, portion sizes should be kept small in order to encourage healthy eating.
Takeaways:-
Our brain love doing smaller tasks more than a big task. Use it to your advantage when planning to follow a diet or building your next project.
References & Studies:-
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16771803/
https://michaelgearon.medium.com/cognitive-biases-unit-bias-c48d35d2ff06
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