Effects of supply and demand on ratings of object value.

Subjects were asked to rate the value and attractiveness of cookies that were either in abundant supply or scarce supply. In the scarce condition, the cookies were either constantly scarce or they began in abundant supply and then decreased. Subjects were told that this decrease in supply was cither due to an accident or to a high demand for the cookies. In the abundant condition, the cookies were either constantly abundant or first scarce and then abundant. The increase in supply was either due to an accident or to a lack of demand for the cookies. These conditions were crossed with a manipulation in which subjects thought either a high or low number of additional subjects were still to participate in the study. The results indicated that (a) cookies in scarce supply were rated as more desirable than cookies in abundant supply; (b) cookies were rated as more valuable when their supply changed from abundant to scarce than when they were constantly scarce; and (c) cookies scarce because of high demand were rated higher than cookies that were scarce because of an accident. With regard to abundance, cookies that were constantly abundant were rated higher than cookies that began scarce but later became abundant. The results were interpreted as extending commodity theory, and reactance was hypothesized as an intervening process responsible for some of the results. A second study was performed to rule out the possibility that demand characteristics were responsible for the obtained results.