Re: Question:
"You are right. As reported, the basis of the experiment is fatally flawed. It is critically important to work with a figure that each person considers to be minor..."
^This.
If the poorer participants were offered 1c out of $1, then they might exhibit the same behaviour.
My in-laws are always trying to give us money (of the £10-100 variety) and since they are pensioners they don't realise that the amount of money isn't significant enough to us to help much, but is of vastly more use to them. We don't want to refuse because they are so generous and we don't want to hurt their feelings, but I have told them that if they do want to show appreciation for something we do by giving us money, then nothing worth more than a tenner (otherwise we will just buy something they need that they haven't bought with the money and give it right back to them :) )
Similarly, a millionaire associate started having money troubles because most of it was tied up in assets - there was no amount I could raise that would make a dent in his economic commitments, we are just on different levels.
How much would you get out of bed and clean a filthy toilet for (say it takes an hour)?
Some people would do that for £10, others wouldn't do it if you paid them £1000. It all depends where your expectations are on the economic spectrum.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
