{"id":33340,"date":"2021-04-21T16:58:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T20:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33340"},"modified":"2021-04-29T21:29:25","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T01:29:25","slug":"the-power-of-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How can you work to overcome the power of free? What positive impacts can the power of free have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If something is &#8220;free,&#8221; it may cause you to make an irrational purchase, or to wait in a 45-minute line for it. But would you have really done those things if they weren&#8217;t free? Learn how to overcome the power of free and harness it for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn more about the power of free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Diminishing the Power of Free<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The first part of diminishing the power of <\/strong>&#8220;<strong>free&#8221; is recognizing the ways it might be showing up in different aspects of your life. <\/strong>Keep in mind that it\u2019s not only used to trigger irrational purchases. It can also be used to manipulate how you spend your time\u2014you wouldn\u2019t spend 45 minutes standing in line for ice cream unless it was Free Cone Day at Ben &amp; Jerry\u2019s or unless each ice cream came with a free t-shirt.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The second part is questioning how the presence of \u201cfree\u201d might be affecting your decision. <\/strong>Take a step back and think:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>If this <em>wasn\u2019t<\/em> free, what choice would I make?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Would I be able to justify this purchase or time spent if the \u201cfree\u201d part were eliminated?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking a moment to think consciously about why you might be making certain choices is a helpful step in interrupting the natural, yet irrational, reaction we have to free items\u2014thus clearing the way for a more careful and rational analysis of what the best choice is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Positive Power of Free&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It\u2019s important to keep in mind that the power of \u201cfree\u201d <\/strong><strong><em>can<\/em><\/strong><strong> be used toward positive outcomes if harnessed correctly. <\/strong>First, we\u2019ll look at an example of how you can use it on a small scale in friendships, and then we\u2019ll discuss how the power of free can drive social changes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Dinner With Friends<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowledge of humans\u2019 natural positive reaction to \u201cfree\u201d can help you strengthen the bonds of your friendship group\u2014all you need to do is pick up the tab at your next outing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recall that nearly every transaction has the downside of having to spend money. If all of your friends need to chip in a bit for their portion of dinner, <em>everyone<\/em> at the table experiences this downside. <strong>However, the negative feelings associated with spending money only worsen to a certain point, and then plateau.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine that every $20 spent is one unit of discomfort, and this discomfort plateaus around $60. If you and five friends went for dinner and each owed $20 at the end of the night, your group would experience a total of 6 units of discomfort. However, if you were to pay the entire bill yourself, you would only experience 3 units of discomfort and would spare the rest of your group any discomfort at all.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ideally, another friend would have the responsibility of picking up the check at the next outing, and another at the outing after that. This continues the cycle of diminishing the downside of the transaction and thereby increasing the perceived value of the get-together, and it triggers the positive emotions that come with getting something for free.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Social Change, for Free<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another positive aspect of the power of \u201cfree\u201d is its potential for getting people to participate in programs that benefit their communities, their health, or the environment. For example, to encourage more people to drive electric cars, you could add the influence of \u201cfree\u201d to the purchase\u2014such as in an offer for free emissions testing or free weekend parking in your city. Or, to encourage more people to get preventative medical exams, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, make these exams free. Reduced copays don\u2019t spark the same amount of interest or motivation as zero-cost copays.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can you work to overcome the power of free? What positive impacts can the power of free have? If something is &#8220;free,&#8221; it may cause you to make an irrational purchase, or to wait in a 45-minute line for it. But would you have really done those things if they weren&#8217;t free? Learn how to overcome the power of free and harness it for good. Continue reading to learn more about the power of free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,9,24],"tags":[270],"class_list":["post-33340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","category-psychology","category-society","tag-predictably-irrational","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The power of &quot;free&quot; may cause you to make irrational decisions. Learn how to overcome this power and harness it for good.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The power of &quot;free&quot; may cause you to make irrational decisions. Learn how to overcome this power and harness it for good.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-21T20:58:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-30T01:29:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1199\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"594\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-21T20:58:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-30T01:29:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\"},\"wordCount\":649,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Predictably Irrational\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Marketing\",\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\",\"name\":\"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-21T20:58:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-30T01:29:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"The power of \\\"free\\\" may cause you to make irrational decisions. Learn how to overcome this power and harness it for good.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg\",\"width\":1199,\"height\":594},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\",\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hannah Aster\"},\"description\":\"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.\",\"knowsAbout\":[\"Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing\"],\"jobTitle\":\"SEO Team Lead\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It - Shortform Books","description":"The power of \"free\" may cause you to make irrational decisions. Learn how to overcome this power and harness it for good.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It","og_description":"The power of \"free\" may cause you to make irrational decisions. Learn how to overcome this power and harness it for good.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-04-21T20:58:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-30T01:29:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1199,"height":594,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hannah Aster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hannah Aster","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/"},"author":{"name":"Hannah Aster","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f"},"headline":"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It","datePublished":"2021-04-21T20:58:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-30T01:29:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/"},"wordCount":649,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg","keywords":["Predictably Irrational"],"articleSection":["Marketing","Psychology","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/","name":"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-21T20:58:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-30T01:29:25+00:00","description":"The power of \"free\" may cause you to make irrational decisions. Learn how to overcome this power and harness it for good.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg","width":1199,"height":594},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-power-of-free\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Power of Free: Overcome and Harness It"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f","name":"Hannah Aster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0302cb2690b70a21639bc6873e587f42d39d02385b7e59d8efd0d3e000ae7681?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hannah Aster"},"description":"Hannah is a seasoned writer and editor who started her journey with Shortform nearly five years ago. She grew up reading mostly fiction books but transitioned to non-fiction writing when she started her travel website in 2018. When she's not writing or traveling, you can find Hannah working on home reno projects, crafting, or taking care of plants.","knowsAbout":["Graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in professional and creative writing"],"jobTitle":"SEO Team Lead","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/hannah\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/line.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33354,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33340\/revisions\/33354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}