Joe Windish just wrote an interesting post about Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment

In this post, Joe describes a study carried out by Microsoft on people who hated Windows Vista. The company recruited 140 Mac and PC users who thought Microsoft’s latest operating system was slow, that it crashed constantly, that it was incompatible with various devices, and that installing it would be a pain. None of these people had ever used Vista; they’d only heard from others that it sucked. When they were asked to watch a short demonstration of a brand-new Microsoft operating system called Windows Mojave, the Vista-haters were blown away. (more…)

Would you drink from this toilet?

What if I told you that this is a perfectly new toilet? Would it make a difference?

If you feel uncomfortable, it is because the meaning of the word toilet “sticks” to it. It turns out that this feeling is not just about toilets, and there are many words whose meanings sticks to them. Think about chocolate that looks like a cockroach…….

This picture was taken in the Exploratorium in SF, and it was part of their exhibit on discussing things.

Keeping doors open in dating and beyond

This video was produced by Spark Creative and Diamond Consultants — thanks

One of the positive side effects of writing Predictably Irrational is that sometimes people try their own versions of these experiments. Here is one email describing an experiment on cheating and toilet paper – demonstrating the wide range of application of behavioral economics….

Dear Professor Ariely,

I am a fan of your research. I particularly liked your experiments on cheating (i.e. the non-existent “MIT honor code” and 10 Commandments example) and thought that I could apply your hypothesis in an experiment of my own.

I live in a house near the U.C. Berkeley campus (where I just graduated last semester). The house is shared with many housemates, and most of us do not know each other before moving in. Moreover, this summer a bunch of foreign exchange students are also living in the house. This living arrangement has led to a number of problems– namely the stealing of toilet paper. (more…)

AS I stand at the gas station filling my tank, the meter tallies how much it’s going to cost me. At this station, a gallon is $4.26, and as the meter passes the $20 mark, then the $30, I realize that I am paying too much attention to the price of gasoline. I bet you are too.Looking back at my family’s expenses over the past few years, I see big increases in our health care costs and in how much we pay for food. The rise in what we spend on gas is not nearly as extreme as our increases in categories like electricity and telephone. So why does the amount we spend on gasoline feel so enormous? I think it is because of the way we buy gas. (more…)

A few weeks ago I talked at Google.

It was an interesting visit — they are clearly a very cool company — almost as cool as they think they are.

 In case you have nothing better to do, here is the link to the talk itself.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of hanging out with the gang from Radio Lab. We had some informal chats about research and as a consequence I decided to try and conduct a few 5 minute interviews with different researchers about one exciting project.

I liked the outcome of the first few, so I decided to make it into a podcast… (more…)

Do we get to attached to stuff?

Moving and unpacking (which is what we have been doing), is a good test of attachment.

This video was produced by Spark Creative and Diamond consultants — thanks