Each idea on MentoTex has its own page. Pick a concept to read every article, video and breakdown that explains it, with the researchers behind it named.
Anchoring
Anchoring is the tendency for the first number we see to pull our later estimates towards it, even when the number is irrelevant. In a famous 1974 experiment, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman spun a rigged wheel before asking people to estimate the share of African countries in the United Nations; those who saw a higher number gave higher estimates. Anchors shape prices, salary talks, negotiations and what a discount feels like. This page collects our articles, quizzes and videos on anchoring, including how it works, how strong it really is, and simple ways to reduce its pull when it matters.
Scarcity
Scarcity, in the research of Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, is the experience of having less than you feel you need, whether of money, time or energy. Their work, summarised in the 2013 book Scarcity, suggests that scarcity captures attention, a pattern they call tunneling, and leaves less mental room for everything else. They also describe how it can push people to borrow from the future. Some of the specific findings are debated, so we separate the well-supported ideas from the contested ones. This page collects our articles, quizzes and videos on scarcity and money stress.
System 1 and 2
System 1 and System 2 are labels for two broad modes of thinking: fast, automatic and intuitive, and slow, deliberate and effortful. The terms come from Keith Stanovich and Richard West and were made famous by Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011). The distinction is a useful picture rather than a literal description of the brain, and researchers continue to refine it. It helps explain why quick judgments are often right and sometimes wrong, and when slowing down pays. This page gathers our articles, quizzes and videos on fast and slow thinking.
Loss aversion
Loss aversion is the finding that a loss tends to feel stronger than a gain of the same size. It is a core idea of prospect theory, set out by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979, and the often-quoted rule of thumb is that losses weigh roughly twice as much as gains, although the exact ratio varies between people and situations, and researchers still debate it. It helps explain why people hold losing investments, reject fair bets and dislike changing the status quo. This page gathers our articles, quizzes and videos on loss aversion, with the research behind each claim.
Pain of paying
The pain of paying is the discomfort of parting with money at the moment of payment. Drazen Prelec and George Loewenstein described it in 1998, arguing that payment methods differ in how vividly they make us feel the cost: cash is felt more than a card, and a card more than a stored payment or a subscription. Research on credit card use has found that people can be willing to pay more when they pay by card. This page collects our articles, quizzes and videos on how payment design changes what we spend, and how to notice it.
Personal history
Personal history is about how your own past with money, from the messages you heard growing up to the good and bad experiences that followed, shapes the choices you make today. Researchers call some of these unspoken beliefs money scripts, and studies such as the Klontz Money Script Inventory link them to saving, spending and attitudes to wealth. Understanding where a habit comes from does not excuse it, but it helps you see it as learned rather than fixed. This page gathers our articles, quizzes and videos on how upbringing and experience shape money behavior, handled with care.
Sunk cost
The sunk cost effect is the tendency to keep investing in something because of what has already been spent, even when the past cost cannot be recovered and should not affect the next decision. Hal Arkes and Catherine Blumer showed it in 1985 with theatre season tickets, and Richard Thaler had described the idea in 1980. It shows up in projects, subscriptions, relationships and investments. Recognising it does not mean quitting everything; it means asking whether you would start this today. This page collects our articles, quizzes and videos on sunk costs and how to decide what to do next.