The study, by professors Yoon Song-oh of Korea University Business School and Itamar Simonson of Stanford University and published in the August edition of the Journal of Consumer Research, says the reason for this is the so-called "attraction effect." This is the same phenomenon in which a beautiful girl looks more attractive when she's among ugly girls than when she's with other beautiful girls.

Yoon and Simonson say that consumers are more likely to feel confident and satisfied about good-looking products when they are arranged with less attractive products of similar quality. And this attraction effect does not easily diminish, even with the passage of time, they claim.

Another phenomenon affecting purchase patterns is called the "compromise effect." This is when consumers opt for something in between when they must choose from products of superior price and quality, of inferior price and quality, and of intermediate price and quality.

But the study found that the compromise effect is less effective than the attraction effect when it comes to consumer satisfaction. "This is because the attraction effect causes consumers to pay attention to the products themselves, while the compromise effect draws the consumer's attention to the relative positions of the products," Yoon said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )