Retail Memes

Your brain on psychological pricing! That moment when $100 feels like highway robbery, but $99.95 feels like a bargain. It's literally a 5-cent difference, but our brains process these numbers completely differently. The left prefrontal cortex (responsible for analytical thinking) gets overridden by the emotional limbic system that sees the first digit change from 1 to 9 and goes "WHAT A DEAL!" Retailers have exploited this cognitive bias since the 1880s, and despite knowing better, we still fall for it. Next time you're shopping, remember you're basically in a neurological chess match with marketing departments.