Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda? • Hacker News Board

Re: Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda?

#21

Post by bkow20 » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 4:56 AM UTC

What would you do if you found 280 bucks in a stack of 20's on the sidewalk?

This actually happened to me on campus a couple years ago. Not knowing what to do, I picked up the bills and just stood there awkwardly, holding them out, hoping the person who dropped them would come back and claim them (under the assumption that a random person wouldn't say anything to me holding 14 20's). I skipped class waiting, and then, not wanting to miss the next class pocketed the money. Was I wrong?

Re: Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda?

#22

Post by antiform » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 7:27 AM UTC

I think a small vignette from Clerks says it best:

Dante Hicks: "Theoretically, people see money on the counter, and no one around, they think they're being watched."

Veronica: "Honesty through paranoia."

Re: Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda?

#23

Post by sounddust » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 10:20 PM UTC

dgabriel wrote: post #16

sounddust wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the problem is still the same. The statement that "people have an irrational sense of logic because they would take food from a roommate, but not money" is still incorrect. Of the 15 or so roommates I've had in my life, 13 or 14 would have almost always answered "yes" to the question "hey, can I take XXX from the fridge and eat it." Whereas fewer of them would have answered the same if I had asked for money. Ther…

Would your roommates refuse to lend you 5 dollars? If not, why is it wrong to take the 5 dollars from his desk, or take money he left in a common area? Under your reasoning it would perfectly fine, common, even. "I'm sure he won't mind if I just take a few dollars," seems more wrong than "I'm sure he won't mind if I drink one of his fancy beers/soymilk smoothies/etc".

I think you're missing my point. Yes, it seems more wrong to take money than to take a drink from the fridge.

The researcher in this study is saying "aha! taking a drink is exactly the same as taking money, therefore human beings are illogical thinkers in this scenario!" But it is in fact logical - it's based on the anticipated response of the person whose money/drink you're taking (and if you don't know how it belongs to - the general expectations of people in your society/community).

Also, I'm sure that there are societies in which people never take drinks from other people, and consider it the same as taking money. A comprehensive study would have covered more than an American college campus.

Re: Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda?

#24

Post by petercooper » Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 10:56 PM UTC

GavinB wrote: post #11

zeraholladay wrote: post #2

Question: "Even though the value was comparable [cans of sodas and a dollar] --and thus the situations were supposed to be equivalent--people responded in opposite ways. Why is that?" Answer: Sane people leave six packs of sodas in refrigerators so the sodas get cold and in case those with access to the refrigerator get thirsty. The old idiom applies: treat others as you would want to be treated. Dollar bills general…

You're correct in that the dollars are out of place while the soda cans are not. A better experiment might be this: Leave the door to a locker open, with a few items of clothing to show that it belongs to someone. In one version leave an open jar of candy. In the other, an open jar of quarters. I suspect that some of the candy would disappear while far fewer of the quarters would go. Of course, the reason for that is…

I disagree, but only because I believe people would consider candy that's /already opened/ by someone else to be "tainted" in some way.

Re: Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda?

#25

Post by zealog » Mon, Apr 14, 2008, 5:04 AM UTC

bouncingsoul wrote: post #6

But then he tried another variation: Before doing the test, he asked one group of subjects to name 10 books they had read in high school. He asked another group to name as many of the Ten Commandments as they could remember. The group that listed the books followed the same pattern as the earlier test – they all cheated a little. But the group that named the commandments was different: Nobody cheated at all! "Just th…

I've read about this bit of the book in other articles. The cheating was not on the books/10 commandments, it was on a math quiz (that afforded cheating) which followed the listing.

For those that listed books, some would cheat on the next bit. For those that listed commandments, they wouldn't.

Re: Would you steal a buck? How about a can of soda?

#26

Post by demallien » Mon, Apr 14, 2008, 6:32 AM UTC

sounddust wrote: post #23

dgabriel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would your roommates refuse to lend you 5 dollars? If not, why is it wrong to take the 5 dollars from his desk, or take money he left in a common area? Under your reasoning it would perfectly fine, common, even. "I'm sure he won't mind if I just take a few dollars," seems more wrong than "I'm sure he won't mind if I drink one of his fancy beers/soymilk smoothies/etc".

I think you're missing my point. Yes, it seems more wrong to take money than to take a drink from the fridge. The researcher in this study is saying "aha! taking a drink is exactly the same as taking money, therefore human beings are illogical thinkers in this scenario!" But it is in fact logical - it's based on the anticipated response of the person whose money/drink you're taking (and if you don't know how it belon…

No, I don't think that is what he is saying at all. He is saying that standard economics treats the two as being the same, because it reduces things to their dollar value. The experiment identifies an area where standard economic assumptions breakdown, which means that you can't use standard economic theories to determine the result.