Statistically caught correlation does not imply the assusmed causation you wish to "prove". The guys who memorize numbers might associate a cake with a reward

Statistically caught correlation does not imply the assusmed causation you wish to "prove". The guys who memorize numbers might associate a cake with a reward and choose it just in order to reward oneself for a meaningless and boring waste of time they choose by mistake, while in 2 digits group it wasn't counted even as a joke. As for willpower/self-control - hormonal levels are almost always the major factors. Just do the silly experiments which are "considered unethical" involving "images from those magazines" and you will notice lots of correlations.) The famous experiment with tape-recorded heart-beats is the beautiful one. Again, trying to find a single cause in psychology is kind of naive. The theoretical framework advocated by Marvin Minsky of constant competition of multitude of semi-independent agencies (specialized regions of the brain) helps to develop the notion of multiple causation. My guess is that if one would nail a poster of a fit bikini girl to a wall, the number of cakes chosen will be reduced dramatically, everything else being equal. But for a pony psychology the article is perfectly OK.)