Choice
Logic and emotion aren't the only forces that guide our decisions. This hour of Radiolab, we turn up the volume on the voices in our heads, and try to make sense of the babble. Forget free will, some important decisions could come down to a steaming cup of coffee.
UPDATE: The Williams & Bargh Yale coffee study "Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth" was replicated in 2014 by researchers at three different universities, Kenyon College, Michigan State University, and University of Manchester. They did not observe the same results as in the original study. They conclude that the difference between the original and the replications may have been due to some issues with the methods of the original study ("The effect observed by Williams and Bargh may have been due, in part, to unconscious cues given by the researcher") or may simply have been due to chance. They are very careful in their language to not discredit the original study but they advise that future researchers be more cautious "when considering whether exposure to hot or cold temperatures impacts prosocial behavior." In sum: the original Yale study mostly still stands, but researchers now look the methods and results with slight skepticism (not outright disbelief though). You can check out the replications here: http://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/10.1027/1864-9335/a000187
- Duration
- 1h 1m
- Broadcast on
- 17 Nov 2008
- Audio Format
- other
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
Logic and emotion aren't the only forces that guide our decisions. This hour of Radiolab, we turn up the volume on the voices in our heads, and try to make sense of the babble. Forget free will, some important decisions could come down to a steaming cup of coffee.
UPDATE: The Williams & Bargh Yale coffee study "Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth" was replicated in 2014 by researchers at three different universities, Kenyon College, Michigan State University, and University of Manchester. They did not observe the same results as in the original study. They conclude that the difference between the original and the replications may have been due to some issues with the methods of the original study ("The effect observed by Williams and Bargh may have been due, in part, to unconscious cues given by the researcher") or may simply have been due to chance. They are very careful in their language to not discredit the original study but they advise that future researchers be more cautious "when considering whether exposure to hot or cold temperatures impacts prosocial behavior." In sum: the original Yale study mostly still stands, but researchers now look the methods and results with slight skepticism (not outright disbelief though). You can check out the replications here: http://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/10.1027/1864-9335/a000187
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WNYC Studios is supported by WISE. WISE, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. With a WISE account, you can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies, with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get WISE. Download the WISE app today. Terms and conditions apply. Radialab is supported by AT&T. We all love to connect via video calls or texts. Right now, at AT&T, you can get the new iPhone 18 Pro for $0 with iPhone trading. Any condition. It has the ultimate pro camera system and big leap in battery life, so you can turn this deal into a long lasting connection. Learn how you can trade in your iPhone for the new iPhone 18 Pro, requires trade-in of iPhone 14 or higher, excluding iPhone 16E, an eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply, subject to change, visit an AT&T store for details. You're listening to Radialab, from public radio, WNYC, N-P-R. Today's show is about choice. I don't know what to expect. I believe you're about to see a miracle. And we thought we would start things off in a parking lot in sunny Berkeley, California with a psychologist. I'm Barry Schwartz. I'm a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College, where I have been teaching since 1971. The only job I ever applied for, so I think deep down in my past, I appreciated the value of simplifying one's options. He even wrote a book about it called "Paradox of Choice" and to illustrate that paradox he brought us to, well, you'll see. Barry, will you give us a visual as to what we're doing? So we're about to walk into Berkeley's very famous Berkeley Bowl, which is a supermarket, very unusual when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. Wow! It has a selection unlike any I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, could you describe your first view of the protein? I see just fields of oranges. So we've got navel orange, Valencia juice orange, Texas Valencia juice orange, organic navel, the ole tangerine, daisy tangerine, and we have large navel orange, and red bananas, muro saba banana, large gay hair with washington Pacific rolls, golden delicious, but what are any Smithy? Right, the George of the Valley, we have freedom of choice with respect to every yellow on you, and you see it in every area of life in romantic relationships. George of the Valley, when I was growing up, the answer to the question should I get married was obvious, the answer to the question when was obvious? Which was, of course. Of course, and as soon as possible. Well, now there are no different. How long? How long has we got it? Every imaginable lifestyle is available. You can be gay, straight, bi. Oh boy, look at the seedless grapes. Yeah, seedless. Oh wait, wait, more apples. The sense that there are million opportunities for you, you can make your own rules. The just overwhelming, overwhelming. Counseling centers, psych services centers, and universities are bursting at the seams. Why? These are the most privileged kids ever. The schools are giving them everything they could possibly want, and they are banging down the doors because they're so screwed up. Why? What's going on? An answer is people don't know what to do. They don't know how to choose. They can't face a world in which everything is available. And I see this in the college. It's heartbreaking to see these incredibly talented college seniors who we have given every opportunity to do whatever they want, terrified at graduation. They know that this is a stage in life where walking through one door means they're going to hear a lot of other doors slam shut. They can't bear the thought that they may walk through the wrong door. It's choice angst. It is. It's the disease of modernity. This is very well. Sorry. Sorry. Well, just come on. Go ahead and let's do the show. But I say, come on in reservation. Why? Well, because like people from Swarthmore College get to pay like $45,000 a year for the privilege of the, you know, that's a very, very rare slice of America.
Transcription truncated.
Logic and emotion aren't the only forces that guide our decisions. This hour of Radiolab, we turn up the volume on the voices in our heads, and try to make sense of the babble. Forget free will, some important decisions could come down to a steaming cup of coffee.
UPDATE: The Williams & Bargh Yale coffee study "Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth" was replicated in 2014 by researchers at three different universities, Kenyon College, Michigan State University, and University of Manchester. They did not observe the same results as in the original study. They conclude that the difference between the original and the replications may have been due to some issues with the methods of the original study ("The effect observed by Williams and Bargh may have been due, in part, to unconscious cues given by the researcher") or may simply have been due to chance. They are very careful in their language to not discredit the original study but they advise that future researchers be more cautious "when considering whether exposure to hot or cold temperatures impacts prosocial behavior." In sum: the original Yale study mostly still stands, but researchers now look the methods and results with slight skepticism (not outright disbelief though). You can check out the replications here: http://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/10.1027/1864-9335/a000187