The theft had become a signal of the Mona Lisa’s worth. Surely, no one would steal a worthless painting. The crime brought long-term value to the Mona Lisa and the Louvre.

Enjoyment of something comes from both the sensation of the thing—the taste of the food, the speed of a car, the sound of a song—and what is happening in our brain to co-create the total experience of it. We can call this the full consumption experience.

That’s because another important way we value things—a way unrelated to actual value—is by assigning meaning to a price. When we can’t evaluate something directly, as is often the case, we associate price with value.

percent. In other words, they each believe they’re putting in a great deal of effort, that their partner is doing less, and that, perhaps, that division of labor is not fair.

The same meat6 and beer taste better when there’s a brand name attached.7 And, to get all neuroscience for a moment, people “reported greater pleasure as they consumed Coke-branded cola, corresponding to higher activation levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with emotions and cultural memories.”

The fact that we don’t like to admit we’re wrong in this case is less about arrogance than laziness (it is not that arrogance is not an important driver of behavior in general; it’s just not in this particular case). We don’t want to have to make hard choices. We don’t want to challenge ourselves when we don’t have to, so we go for the easy,

When it comes to spending, trusting our past decisions contributes to the problems of anchoring, herding, and arbitrary coherence. So we should question seemingly “random” numbers, prominently placed MSRPs, and insanely high-priced products. When we see a $2,000 shoe or a $150 sandwich, watch out for the second-most-expensive shoe or sandwich or

Remember, our lack of self-control is due to discounting the future—because we are not emotionally attached to it—and to our willpower’s failure to overcome the temptations of the present.

Language can also persuade us, for example, to slow down and pay close attention to what we’re doing.