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> If offered a Snickers, a Milky Way and an Almond Joy, participants would always choose the Snickers. But if they were offered 20 candy bars, including a Snic

by imgabe 10y ago

> If offered a Snickers, a Milky Way and an Almond Joy, participants would always choose the Snickers. But if they were offered 20 candy bars, including a Snickers, the choice became less clear. They would sometimes pick something other than the Snickers, even though it was still their favorite. Just because something is your favorite doesn't mean it's rational to always choose it every time. Hot wings are my favorite food, but I don't eat them three meals a day to the exclusion of everything else. If there's a selection of 20 candy bars, possibly including ones you haven't tried before, I don't think it's irrational to try a new one since that might become a favorite. Even if it's one you already know, maybe you're just in the mood for coconut instead of peanuts at the moment. This seems like a poor way to measure irrationality.

dvanduzer 10y ago
The goal of the experiment was not to measure irrationality. The goal was to measure neuronal activity involved in decision making, while fuzzing the decision making system with too many options.
- Phemist 10y ago
  Not having read the article at all, so going purely on the title and GP's quote, the question seems to me to be whether bad decisions are always irrational and whether this was an experiment that successfully induced bad decisions (which, imo, was rightfully challenged by GP)
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  The article mentions irrationality numerous times. The experimenter appears to be attempting to frame all decision making as economic value choices. It even gets called Neuroeconomics. "What part of the brain calculates that the Snickers bar rates higher than the Milky Way?" Maybe I'm just broken, but this is a long way from how I choose a choc bar, from 3 or 20. My choice will change depending on what I had recently. I don't have time to skim the actual paper, but I'm more with the GP that it seems a pretty poor experiment.
  - bglusman 10y ago
    See above replies from myself and whack
mVChr 10y ago
I think the interesting part that relates to this experiment is that it's not worth it to the brain to expend a considerable amount of energy in honing the precision of deciding which candy bar to eat, which even if there's a preference is not extremely significant. What I'd be interested in seeing is a similar study where the subjects are presented with potentially life altering choices whose outcomes are unclear and see if the brain kicks in with extra processing power since it knows that the extra precision could make or break the lasting repercussions of the decisions. Not sure not only how you'd measure this but also whether it's possible to do such a study in an ethical way, but it would be interesting!
- antisthenes 10y ago
  > What I'd be interested in seeing is a similar study where the subjects are presented with potentially life altering choices whose outcomes are unclear and see if the brain kicks in with extra processing power since it knows that the extra precision could make or break the lasting repercussions of the decisions. You've just described dating and interpersonal relationships.
whack 10y ago
They already accounted for what you said. "When Glimcher would remove all the choices except the Snickers and the selected candy, participants would wonder why they hadn’t chosen their favorite."
- bglusman 10y ago
  Oh, sorry was typing same thing at the same time :-) Also had to go find link for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alternatives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alt... which I couldn't remember the name of at first, but same money quote!
bglusman 10y ago
The article explains it's not comparing it in a vacuum, it's specifically comparing when there's 20 candy bars including your favorite to two including your favorite. quote: "When Glimcher would remove all the choices except the Snickers and the selected candy, participants would wonder why they hadn’t chosen their favorite." Basically saying it's only irrelvant in the strict sense defined by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alternatives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alt...

by imgabe 10y ago

dvanduzer 10y ago

The goal of the experiment was not to measure irrationality. The goal was to measure neuronal activity involved in decision making, while fuzzing the decision making system with too many options.

Phemist 10y ago
Not having read the article at all, so going purely on the title and GP's quote, the question seems to me to be whether bad decisions are always irrational and whether this was an experiment that successfully induced bad decisions (which, imo, was rightfully challenged by GP)
anexprogrammer 10y ago
The article mentions irrationality numerous times. The experimenter appears to be attempting to frame all decision making as economic value choices. It even gets called Neuroeconomics. "What part of the brain calculates that the Snickers bar rates higher than the Milky Way?" Maybe I'm just broken, but this is a long way from how I choose a choc bar, from 3 or 20. My choice will change depending on what I had recently. I don't have time to skim the actual paper, but I'm more with the GP that it seems a pretty poor experiment.
- bglusman 10y ago
  See above replies from myself and whack

mVChr 10y ago

I think the interesting part that relates to this experiment is that it's not worth it to the brain to expend a considerable amount of energy in honing the precision of deciding which candy bar to eat, which even if there's a preference is not extremely significant. What I'd be interested in seeing is a similar study where the subjects are presented with potentially life altering choices whose outcomes are unclear and see if the brain kicks in with extra processing power since it knows that the extra precision could make or break the lasting repercussions of the decisions. Not sure not only how you'd measure this but also whether it's possible to do such a study in an ethical way, but it would be interesting!

antisthenes 10y ago
> What I'd be interested in seeing is a similar study where the subjects are presented with potentially life altering choices whose outcomes are unclear and see if the brain kicks in with extra processing power since it knows that the extra precision could make or break the lasting repercussions of the decisions. You've just described dating and interpersonal relationships.

whack 10y ago

They already accounted for what you said. "When Glimcher would remove all the choices except the Snickers and the selected candy, participants would wonder why they hadn’t chosen their favorite."

bglusman 10y ago
Oh, sorry was typing same thing at the same time :-) Also had to go find link for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alternatives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alt... which I couldn't remember the name of at first, but same money quote!

bglusman 10y ago

The article explains it's not comparing it in a vacuum, it's specifically comparing when there's 20 candy bars including your favorite to two including your favorite. quote: "When Glimcher would remove all the choices except the Snickers and the selected candy, participants would wonder why they hadn’t chosen their favorite." Basically saying it's only irrelvant in the strict sense defined by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alternatives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alt...