The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 40 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Medium Maximization
Open accessAbstract
A medium—for example, points or money—is a token people receive as the immediate reward of their effort. It has no value in and of itself, but it can be traded for a desired outcome. Experiments demonstrate that, when people are faced with options entailing different outcomes, the presence of a medium can alter what option they choose. This effect occurs because the medium presents an illusion of advantage to an otherwise not so advantageous option, an illusion of certainty to an otherwise uncertain option, or an illusion of linearity to an otherwise concave effort-outcome return relationship. This work has implications for how points influence consumer choice and how money influences human behavior.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Additionally, we contribute to past work showing that consumers continue certain behaviors after several past instances (e.g., collecting two or three items: Gao et al. 2014; acquiring a medium like loyalty points: Hsee et al. 2003)”
From On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions (2023) · cites this paper as Hsee et al. 2003
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, our findings inform our understanding of how the symbols used in behavioral tracking (e.g., the checkmarks in behavioral logs) can have a special influence on consumers' behavior.”
From On or Off Track: How (Broken) Streaks Affect Consumer Decisions (2023) · cites this paper as Hsee et al. 2003
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979) · Econometrica · doi:10.2307/1914185 · Cited by 48,524
Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency
Bandura, A. (1982) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.37.2.122 · Cited by 15,975
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.39.4.341 · Cited by 6,544
Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice
Thaler, R. (1985) · Marketing Science · doi:10.1287/mksc.4.3.199 · Cited by 4,885
Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market
Kahneman, D. J., Knetsch, J. L., & Thaler, R. H. (2000) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511803475.019 · Cited by 3,127
Income and Happiness: Towards a Unified Theory
Easterlin, R. A. (2001) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.1111/1468-0297.00646 · Cited by 2,540
Myopic Loss Aversion and the Equity Premium Puzzle
Benartzi, S., & Thaler, R. H. (1995) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.2307/2118511 · Cited by 2,487
What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?
Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. (2002) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.40.2.402 · Cited by 2,228
An economic theory of self-control.
Thaler, R. H., & Shefrin, H. M. (1981) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/260971 · Cited by 2,203
Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?
Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2002) · Social Indicators Research · doi:10.1023/a:1014411319119 · Cited by 1,555
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- Armus, Harvard L. (1982), “Secondary Reinforcement Strength and Acquisition Reinforcement Schedule,” Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 20 (3), 129
- Frank, Robert (1999), Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess, New York: Free Press.
- ——— (1994), “Creativity in Decision Making with Value-Focused Thinking,” Sloan Management Review, 35 (Summer), 33–41.
- Keeney, Ralph L. and Howard Raiffa (1976), Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Tradeoffs, New York: Wiley.
- ——— (2000), “Mental Accounting Matters,” in Choices, Values and Frames, ed. Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Dishonesty of Honest People: A Theory of Self-Concept Maintenance
Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmkr.45.6.633 · Cited by 2,875
Kivetz, R., Urminsky, O., & Zheng, Y. (2006) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmkr.43.1.39 · Cited by 727
Hassenzahl, M. (2010) · Synthesis lectures on human-centered informatics · doi:10.2200/s00261ed1v01y201003hci008 · Cited by 1,069
Zero as a Special Price: The True Value of Free Products
Shampanier, K., Mazar, N., & Ariely, D. (2007) · Marketing Science · doi:10.1287/mksc.1060.0254 · Cited by 613
The Long-Term Impact of Loyalty Programs on Consumer Purchase Behavior and Loyalty
Liu, Y. (2007) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1509/jmkg.71.4.19 · Cited by 617
Metadata
- Authors
- Hsee, C. K., Yu, F., Zhang, J., & Zhang, Y.
- Venue
- Journal of Consumer Research
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2003-06
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-14
- ISSN
- 0093-5301 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5277
- OpenAlex
- W4234925279
- Cited by
- 171
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 2.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- repository.ceibs.cn
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Journal of Consumer Research (publishedVersion)
- CEIBS Institutional Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing
- Keywords
- reward, consumer choice, money, decision-making
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
