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partners would have to do, and how long they would have to hold it.
11
For those who have forgotten (or never knew) the scandals these men were caught in, here’s the short
version: Haggard was a popular minister fighting against gay rights who got caught having sex and
doing drugs with a male prostitute; Spitzer was the governor and former attorney general of New
York State who relentlessly prosecuted corruption, and then turned out to be the regular client of a
prostitution ring under federal investigation; Edwards was a failed Democratic presidential candidate
who campaigned on the strength of his family values, all the while cheating on a wife dying of cancer;
and Woods was the celebrated golfer known for his self-discipline, but revealed to be a sex addict.
12
The researchers also point out that diners were way too quick to accept the designation “healthy” on
an entrée. On average, the dishes labeled healthy choices were actually higher in calories than the
other entrées, but no one questioned the label.
13
But be advised, it may make you a worse driver. A 2010 report by an auto insurance analytics
company found that drivers of hybrid cars are involved in more collisions, receive 65 percent more
traffic tickets, and drive 25 percent more miles than other drivers. Is this a case of a green halo
licensing road recklessness? Hard to say, but while you’re patting yourself on the back for your eco-
friendly wheels, be sure to keep an eye on the speedometer.
14
Although Heath’s research was strange, it wasn’t the strangest thing going on in psychology
laboratories in the 1960s. Over at Harvard, Timothy Leary was studying the spiritual benefits of LSD
and hallucinogenic mushrooms. At the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, Stanley Krippner
was furthering ESP research by training subjects to send telepathic messages to a person dreaming in
another room. And Ewen Cameron at Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal was trying to erase the
memories of housewives held against their will as part of CIA-sponsored research on mind control.
15
One of the most interesting things about Heath’s report is how he interpreted the patient’s continued
pressing of the button after the current was turned off. Heath thought it demonstrated that the patient
was too mentally disturbed to be an adequate test subject. He did not yet have sufficient understanding
of the brain region he was stimulating to recognize that this behavior was the first sign of addiction
and compulsion.
16
He also become completely obsessed with his leaf blower, using it for up to six hours at a time to try
to create the perfect, leaf-free yard—but this was understandably considered a less pressing problem
to his family and doctors.
17
Sampling something sweet also made participants more interested in rewards that had nothing to do
with the shopping experience, including a vacation in Bora Bora, a romantic movie, and a spa
experience, suggesting that marketers trying to sell anything from real estate to luxury cars would be
smart to serve cookies and punch at their sales pitch.
18
Scent Air’s list of available scents (
scentair.com
) runs the gamut from Fresh Linen to Birthday Cake
and Mistletoe. It’s easy to imagine the retailers who would want these appealing odors wafting
around their merchandise. I’m left wondering, though, who the market is for Scent Air’s Skunk,
Dinosaur Breath, and Burning Rubber aromas.
19
While this approach might seem brazen, it’s nothing compared with the motion-detecting ice-cream
vending machine developed by Unilever. When it senses potential customers walking by, it calls out
to them and encourages them to come over for ice cream.
20
We should also think twice before slapping similar warnings about life-threatening STDs onto
condom packages—men reminded of their mortality are more interested in having casual sex, and less
likely to use condoms.
21
What foods are we most likely to regret? According to a 2009 survey published in
Appetite
, the most
guilt-inducing foods are: 1. candy and ice cream, 2. potato chips, 3. cake, 4. pastries, and 5. fast food.
22
In some markets, you can even join a gym that will charge you more for not showing up than for
regular attendance—a nice way to pressure the self who is tempted to skip today’s workout.
23
Yes, this actually exists—at the time of this writing, you had to sign a legal waiver to order El Jefe
Grande, which clocks in at seven pounds and 7,000 calories, at Kenny’s Burger Joint in Frisco,
Texas.
24
A favorite Greek tragedy plot device in which a god shows up out of nowhere (typically, lowered
onto the stage by a mechanical crane) to solve what seemed like an unsolvable problem for the
characters. Would that we all had such convenient conflict-resolution strategies for our own lives.
25
In this particular study, the researchers used Natalie Portman and Matt Damon as the other person
participants thought about, because pilot studies showed that these two celebrities were the two best-
known and least-controversial people on the planet.
26
Charmingly, Ersner-Hershfield showed his future wife his own age-advanced avatar before he
proposed. He also assured me that he is now saving plenty for retirement.
27
It pains me to think I might have to explain this reference. Any reader who does not get it should plan
to watch the 1985 classic film
Back to the Futur
e—your future self will thank you.
28
It’s worth noting that half of the men interviewed were not alone the first time they visited a prostitute
—they were with friends or relatives. Like obesity, smoking, and other social epidemics, the
perception that buying sex is acceptable—and the behavior itself—spreads within social networks
like a contagious disease.
29
How do researchers reject study participants? They put a bunch of participants into a “get-acquainted
task,” then have them rate which people they would like to work with on the next task. The
experimenters then tell some participants that no one has expressed an interest in working with them,
so they would have to do the task alone. Nice, guys, real nice.
30
When I told my father about this research, he instantly agreed with its conclusion and shared his own
unscientific evidence: “When I was living in the Catholic seminary, they warned us to never, ever
think about sex. So we were constantly telling each other not to think about sex. Of course, we ended
up thinking about sex all the time, more than we ever would have outside the seminary.” Maybe this
explains why he never became a priest.
31
Candy connoisseurs may be interested in knowing that Erskine uses Maltesers, spheres of malt
honeycomb surrounded by milk chocolate; Cadburys Shots, spheres of milk chocolate in a crispy
sugar shell; and Galaxy Minstrels, a similar chocolate treat marketed by its manufacturers as
“sophisticated silliness.”
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