<p>Humans have loads of cognitive biases. </p>

<p>The one you have in mind could either be so called 'denomination effect', the tendency to care about large currency denominations and be less careful with smaller currency denominations. For example, not to care about the .99 part in a US 9.99 price tag.</p>

<p>It could also be the less-is-better effect. Small amounts of something are preferred than one big lump-sum. For example, buying something in 10 installments of US 110 is chosen instead of one scary US 1000 price tag.  </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-22T13:05:47.600Z
Fantastic! this is exactly what I was looking for. Marked your answer as accepted - but I can't upvote you because I am <15 in reputation. Cheers
mr3mo
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T19:16:24.417Z
Nice answer. Upvoted! (y)
Naimur Rahman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-20T01:24:44.667Z
2020-03-20T01:38:48.617Z
2020-03-20T01:38:48.617Z
Quora Feans
<p>I find that if you tell someone to give you <code>20$</code> vs. giving you <code>1$</code> everyday for 20 days - people react differently.</p>

<p>Similarly humans have a hard time comprehending the fact that small changes in their behaviour everyday may eventually lead to big consequences.</p>

<cognitive-psychology><cognitive-neuroscience><bias>
Humans don't understand the accumulation of small numbers - what is this phenomena called?
mr3mo
# Humans don't understand the accumulation of small numbers - what is this phenomena called?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-03-18)

I find that if you tell someone to give you `20$` vs. giving you `1$` everyday for 20 days - people react differently.

Similarly humans have a hard time comprehending the fact that small changes in their behaviour everyday may eventually lead to big consequences.

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, cognitive-neuroscience, bias


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-03-20. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Humans have loads of cognitive biases.

The one you have in mind could either be so called 'denomination effect', the tendency to care about large currency denominations and be less careful with smaller currency denominations. For example, not to care about the .99 part in a US 9.99 price tag.

It could also be the less-is-better effect. Small amounts of something are preferred than one big lump-sum. For example, buying something in 10 installments of US 110 is chosen instead of one scary US 1000 price tag.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Fantastic! this is exactly what I was looking for. Marked your answer as accepted - but I can't upvote you because I am <15 in reputation. Cheers  
> **username_2**: Nice answer. Upvoted! (y)  

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