Pricey therefore good? Price affects expectations, but not quality perceptions and liking

Price and quality are positively related in people's minds. Saying a product costs more ought to lead higher expectations of liking. Importantly, this price-quality heuristic is argued affect perceived liking—known as the marketing placebo effect. To investigate robustness effect, we conducted six studies (total N = 2842; with students from an international Dutch university US participants Prolific MTurk)—expanding on previous methodological approaches larger samples using products not commonly investigated research. In all our studies, prices led liking suggested by heuristic. However, did find consistent effect once people experienced product. Our data imply that may be less robust or generalizable previously assumed. This (in)efficacy should bring marketers pause when whether rely it at all.