It's hard to explain why we go crazy for the things we do, but thankfully science is around the corner to help us understand it all. Here are a couple of things we all go crazy for, and even while knowing this to be true, we'll still fall for it, all the time.

Lines

If there is a line, it must be good! Right? For some odd reason, human nature has it that when we see long lines of people for something, it must be fantastic. The hit-the-ball-out-of-park kinda fantastic. We're talking about lines from the newest soft serve ice cream to the latest must see movie.  Malaysians just love lining up!!


 
It seems, this can be linked to a psychological experience. It is the fact that there may be something at the end of the line which benefits us more than the time we've already invested in. It is the drawing power of crowds that make us lemmings.

When the potential rewards for queuing up for something that may be in trend outweigh the cost of lining up, people will actually enjoy waiting, and thus, this is what almost everyone you know is afflicted with.

Free movie tickets

Mention the word free and we guarantee you'll turn at least some heads. The notion of not paying for something and getting it for free is the ultimate win, since you know, money is hard to come around.

In fact, this psychology of free has worked time over again and will continue to do so. The goal itself is to inspire a change in behavior and by adding value to the product or brand, the carrot it serves gets people to do something.

The word free triggers a response from us that’s different than any other transaction. Our brains are basically hardwired to love the feeling of getting something for NOTHING. The psychology behind the word explains that it could change our perception from having low expectations to having a positive impression.

 
 
The easiest freebie to give away are free movie tickets because who in the world doesn’t love to watch them?

Some require you to participate in contests, others just want to reward you with no frills. Either way, you'll fall for it and you won't complain. It’s free anyway! Here’s how you can get them by the way.

Giving away a product for free can be a scary thing, but understanding the penny gap and weighing the cost of acquiring customers can make free look pretty good.

Warehouse sales

Have you ever been to a warehouse sale? If you have, you might just be one of those people who loves a crowd. Or being stuck in one.

Warehouse sales are typically the kind of event a company hosts to sell the stuff they couldn't to you at full price, but will do so anyway to get rid of their stocks at a price they'll still profit at, but not so much.


 
It'll involve a hoard of humans gathering in to what may be an air-condition-less building with vapor-blowing fans to keep everyone from killing each other because of the heat.

Nonetheless, the very idea that you've gotten something that's nice for a fraction of the price is like scoring a date with a model just by smiling. It is clearly against every rule of the quantity theory of money, because what you're paying for does not have a direct, proportional relationship with the price level. And that's great!

iPhones. Every damn year

A new version comes out every year without fail and yet while you think you're better off getting it later, you can thank the brilliance of marketing for this. You want that hot new iPhone living in your skinny jeans now!
 
Value doesn't have to do with just cost or specs or anything even objective. It's a combination of a whole bunch of complex subjective factors that make something more valuable than something else.



And having that spanking new iPhone with you just says you're better than most. Or richer, depending on model?

Filling up petrol before the price goes up the next day

You've got a good half tank remaining and you can probably stretch another 3 more days if you start hitting the Econ mode and stop flooring the pedal every time you see the lights turn amber. And then you see some oversharer on Facebook with a need of reporting what the news is saying: fuel prices going up tomorrow. You panic, and think about the money you're going to lose to afford that IKEA RM1 karipap and you make a beeline for the station.
 
The problem? You find 50 other assholes who had the same thought in mind too and you end up queuing up for a good 20 minutes. Or more! Was it worth it?



Prices fluctuate, but it probably won't break your bank to fill it up the one time it goes up from the last time you had a full tank. So the question of whether or not is it a good idea to waste those precious minutes in line or invest that in to time with something more productive.

This resonates well with people's understanding of economics, in which there's more value for the product now than it will have for at a higher price later. And when you couple that with the rewards they believe are the outcomes of waiting in line, it's highly likely a lot of people will still be doing this.

Guilty of all these behaviors? Don't worry. You're not alone.