i am guessing that if people were anything like annette lee, they would have bought fewer things at jcpenny. J c penny sales plummeted. The stock price plummeted. Customers were attracted to j c penny simply because of low price. They were attracted to bargains that they got through mark downs and coupons. But i think this whole notion of what your sister is talking about speaks to something beyond just cognitive biaces. I think it says a lot about different cultures, different families, and different home economics within families.