Why cautious people can make poor buying decisions

Here are some points from Robert Steele's review of Predictably Irrational. The book explains how "...behavioral economics can show us why cautious people make poor decisions."

• Relatively and "bracketing" matter (sell what you want by bracketing it with a more expensive option above and a trashy cheap thing below)
• Decoys matter (e.g., a middle option that makes the "combined option" a "no brainer")
• Imprinting is used by the author to explain "anchoring" (e.g., black pearls anchored in setting of most expensive diamonds, this is an example of how the SELLER is setting the price, not the buyer).
• "Free" is never really free. It can blind rational choice and it can "cost" time, choice, and a higher value that is obscured.
• There is a pricing effect (very high priced menu item drives folks toward the second most expensive, which they would not have chosen absent the "higher" bracket item)