Give me free ice cream or make me doubt science
The study's blurb was tempting.
Consider how long you would be willing to stand in line for a free Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone. Let's assume that your answer is 20 minutes and that the cost of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone is $1.45. Now answer this: would you be willing to stand in line for 20 minutes for $1.45 in cash? No way. This is exactly what the experiments showed; when something is Free! we get excited and as a consequence we are willing to give up better deals — not to mention our time, money, etc.
I then read the entire scientific paper to learn about this free ice cream and found they had actually given free ice cream to no one. No one!
The whole study was a tease. Experiment one: "We asked 60 participants to make a hypothetical choice among a Hershey's, a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, and buying nothing (we provided pictures of both chocolates)." Experiment two had Hershey's kisses and Lindt chocolate but involved a sign, "One chocolate per person." The chocolate wasn't even free some of the time. Experiment three had the same and required a cafeteria purchase.
But experiment four was just ridiculous.
On Halloween, 34 trick-or-treaters at an author's house were exposed to a new Halloween tradition. As soon as the children knocked on the door, they received three Hershey's (each weighing about 0.16 oz.) and were asked to hold the Hershey's they had just received in their open hand in front of them. Next, each child was offered a choice between a small (1 oz.) and a large (2 oz.) Snickers bar. In the free (0&1) condition, they could simply get the small Snickers bar or exchange one of their Hershey's for the large Snickers bar. In the cost (1&2) condition, the children could exchange one of their Hershey's for the small Snickers bar or exchange two for the large Snickers bar. They also could choose not to make any exchanges.
What kind of monster plays games with kids and their Halloween candy? You think they're making logical decisions sugar high on the last block's loot and dressed like ghouls and SpongeBob? Here, kids, eat this unwrapped candy … of science!
At least no raisins were involved.
Or hypothetical candy. Experiments the final six and seven were heartbreakers. "We asked 243 participants to evaluate how attractive they found an offer of a chocolate at a certain price," six said. "The survey in the condition asked participants to imagine that there is a chocolate promotion at the checkout counter of their supermarket," seven said.
The offer of chocolate. Imaginary chocolate. Logic games with Halloween candy. Chocolate with purchase. One chocolate per person. Hypothetical chocolate. And no free ice cream. It was enough to make anyone consider alternative theories, like literal interpretation of chocolate. There had to be some sort of chocolate maker bringing the world of chocolate into existence. If we couldn't see the chocolate in front of us and consume it to the point of proof, how would we know the chocolate had ever existed at all?
