Why do people do the things they do? Why do people cheat?

[TayTay]

I watched a fascinating video on C-Span's BookTV last weekend. It was an appearance by Prof. Dan Ariely of MIT and Duke University and he was talking, in a highly entertaining and down-to-earth way, about his research into human behavior and why human beings act they way they do. Prof Ariely is a professor of behavioral economics. Now, short of sand blowing in a desert, I can think of few things dryer than the idea of listening to someone talk about behavioral economics. Believe me, this is hardly the case with Prof. Ariely.

C-Span has archived the good prof's recent appearance at a book festival. The video is only about 36 minutes long, so it doesn't involve a lot of time to watch. I would highly recommend it. His talk is about cheating, who does it, why it happens, what curbs it and what seems to be motivating it. Much of the research is highly interesting (seriously, this is fascinating to watch as any entertainment show on TV) and very accessible or said in ordinary english, not academic-ese, if you will.

There is a link on BookTV to http://tinyurl.com/qdbs8d">Prof Ariely's lecture

This has bearings on the political debate and why people post the way they do, act the way they do and believe the things they believe. It would be interesting to have the good professor spend some time with the pro-health care reform people in the Admin and on Capital Hill. His insights into why people behave the way they do would be worth listening to. I am particularly interested in why an appeal to an abstract concept only works for a brief period while an appeal that incorporates one person into it can work for a much longer period and be much more effective as a means of spreading a message. We can only sustain an appeal to uphold "truth" for example for a little time, it's too abstract for a long period, whereas the appeal of putting Gramma, a person, in front of an imaginary death panel, can be very vivid for some folks and much more motivating.

A sample of how the professor thinks: He has a Q&A http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?page_id=17">on his blog. A person wrote in and asked if she should play "hard to get" in order to attract the attention of a man she likes. Ariely wrote back:

Your mother is right: making the guy sweat a little (no, not like that) is in your best interest if you want to maximize the chances f a long term relationship. The reason lies in cognitive dissonance, which refers to what we do when our beliefs and actions misalign: Can’t change the cold, hard facts? Then change your beliefs!

The classic experiment here comes from psychologists Leon Festinger and James Carlsmith, who had participants perform a boring task and then paid them either $20 or $1 to convince someone else that the task had been great fun. Everyone then rated the task, with the result that the $1 participants rated the task more positively than did the $20 crew. While the $20 group could explain away the dissonance between their action (“I told someone the task was riveting”) and their belief (“It actually bored me to tears”) via money (“I was paid to promote the task”), the $1 individuals could not because they could not justify misleading others for such a small amount of money– so they changed their initial belief (“I must really like the task, to have promoted it”) and they ended up rating the task more positively.

To give you an example that is closer to our social life, look at fraternities: loyalty to frats increases with the amount of hazing, since pledges tell themselves, “I did a lot of embarrassing stuff for my frat – it must really matter to me.”

So, going back to your dilemma, Unsure, cognitive dissonance suggests that if you really want a guy, you have to create a dissonance for him, so that he will say, “Wow, if I put in all this effort for the woman – I must love her.”

This means that instead of putting out early, you have George pursue you. Instead of splitting the check, you let him pick up the entire tab. Instead of calling him up and suggesting dates, you leave the calling and planning up to him. In other words, make him work, and he will rationalize it by deciding he loves you.

I don't, of course, think that advice is 100% true, but it is fascinating that research suggests it is really, really good advice and in line with what we know about human nature. Food for thought though.

[YvonneCa]

1. Dendrites. It's all about ...

...dendrites. :7 It's the same reason 'hands on' activities work better to teach a concept than what teachers call 'sage on the stage', where a teacher just talks about their knowledge. When a person spends time DOING, their brain is building more connections to the new learning.

Dendrites are formed. It's all about the dendrites. ;)

I haven't yet watched the video, but I will. Thanks for the link.

[sandnsea]

2. Belief Systems, everybody has one

And it is true that they aren't remotely based on fact.

Interesting take on making the guy sweat. I don't think all men would respond that way, so perhaps a study on whether jerks and nice guys both respond to pursuit in the same manner would be more telling.

I know a few people who have the ability to change their beliefs within a span of seconds, and back again, without any recognition they've done it. They're both educated and liberal too. I always say it's like they have a mental eraser, don't like this reality, erase erase erase, make a new one. Bizarre.