Yaël: Did you know, Don, that your shopping habits maybe similar to a hummingbird’s?

 

Don: Are you going to tell me that hummingbirds are also sold on flash colors and miracle diamonds?

 

Y: No. But it turns out that hummingbirds do make shopping decisions as irrational as those of many humans. You see, supermarkets can get about a third of shoppers to switch from one brand to a second brand by introducing a third brand designed to draw attention to the target brand.

 

D: Wait! So when this decoy brand shows up on the shelf, suddenly shoppers find themselves more attracted to a brand they had previouslyignored.

 

Y: You got it, and while scientists aren’t surprised that humans shop irrationally, they are surprised to find that hummingbirds shop similarly. Hummingbirds require a lot of energy, and on top of eating quite frequently they prefer flowers containing either sweeter or larger volumes of nectar because they provide more energy. But that didn’t stop researchers from luring the birds toward less choice flowers. Similar to the supermarket strategy, a fake flowerbed was set up in order to divert the hummingbirds’ attention from their flowerbed of choice to a previouslyignored bed of flowers that would provide less energy. And it worked. The birds gave up high nectar concentrations for lower ones, all because of the introduction of more options.

 

D: Seems like a kind of cool trick you asked me.

 

Y: Not really. This technique could actually prove beneficial in conservation efforts to protect certain species of flowers, making them more attractive to pollinators such as hummingbirds.

 

Yaël: Don,你知道也许你的购物习惯和蜂鸟的相似吗？

 

Don:你是想告诉我蜂鸟也钟爱又大又亮的钻石吗？

 

Y:不是，事实上，和人类一样，蜂鸟也会非理性购物。你知道，超市会通过介绍第三品牌来将大约1/3顾客对一种品牌的关注转移到其它目标品牌。

 

D:等等！所以 “诱饵”品牌上架了，也许顾客以前忽视某个目标品牌，会变得更关注该品牌。

 

Y:就是这样！科学家一点都不惊讶人类的非理性购物，倒是蜂鸟类似的消费习惯让他们大吃一惊。蜂鸟需要补充很多能量，所以在选择食物时，通常会选择花蜜蜜甜多汁的花朵。但是，科学家依然成功地引诱蜂鸟选择平时很少选择的花朵。和超市的策略一样，用假花转移蜂鸟注意力，让蜂鸟选择花床提供更少能量的花朵。蜂鸟果真没有选择花蜜更甜的花朵，反而选择了花蜜更少的，这都归功于多选择性。

 

D:真是骗人的鬼把戏。

 

Y:可别这样说，这种方法有利于保护一些花种，可以帮助它们吸引比如蜂鸟等的传粉者。

 irrational:不理性的