Why do some shoppers choose to pay $3.48 for a 500g bag of Quaker oats when they can buy a kilo of supermarket own brand oats for $3.29, which works out at less than half the price?

Why do we feel better as soon as the doctor, armed with nothing more than a lolly stick asks us to ‘say aah’ and peers into our mouth?

Why is an original artwork by Banksy less valuable when we don’t know it really is a Banksy?

Why are we drinking more bottled water every year?

It turns out that our beliefs can be far more powerful than our thoughts and our customers are far less rational than we think.

Image by Young Sok Yun.