REAL LIFE NEWS: WHY EXPENSIVE WINE TASTES SO MUCH BETTER
by Hazed
The more you spend on a bottle of wine, the better it will taste. You’d expect that to be true – after all, that’s how they justify the extra expense. If it costs more, it’s got to be better, right?
Well, yes, but not for the reason you think. It turns out that wine tastes better if we think it’s more expensive.
Scientists have found that consumers rate cheap wine more highly if they think it cost more. The higher the perceived price tag, the better the perceived flavour.
The perceived benefits create a placebo effect which is so strong it actually changes the chemistry of the brain.
The study’s participants were told they would be given wine priced at £55, £28, £22, £6 and £3 respectively. Their brains were scanned to measure their responses. In actual fact, there were only three different wines, at two different price tags.
Another experiment involved the quality of milkshakes. Participants were asked to consume identical drinks, but some were told they would be organic, and others regular, or light milkshakes. These participants demonstrated significant prejudices in how they rated the tastes, and in their brain activity.
I guess all this proves that we can be fooled by good marketing!
