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

Houses are very personal to many people, and often making decisions about houses and moving include strong elements of attachment (the endowment effect?) to the house and to the stuff that fills it up.

Here is a short interview with the nice people who are selling us their home about their feelings for the house:

And an interview about their feelings about getting rid of stuff:

As it turns out (see promotion below), automobile manufacturers are not the only ones trying to entice consumers with free gas — the Shady Lady brothel has just joined this new trend (see a story about this). I am guessing that free gas is effective in getting people to buy cars — at least relative to direct discount — but I am wondering what is the sense in discounting brothel related services. Perhaps it is meant to give people the feeling that their drive to and from the place is free!