Every now and then, I get fun brain-storming projects for school. A professor and I come up with a research project or test, and then get into the details of trying to determine the perfect something to give to subjects for an experiment.
Right now, what we need is this:
We're going to give something to subjects. Something they don't want. But it can't be anything that could get us in trouble, like serious pain or humiliation. The final difficult catch is that it has to be something that can exist as either one, several, or a pack of several. The "pack" or the "several" shouldn't cost more than $5 or $10.
A few of the examples I've come up with:
-gross candy, such as gummy bandaids. (cheap, easy to pack, but not that aversive).
-unpleasant sounds that they have to listen to. (good, easy, but hard to pack...maybe 1 song, ten songs, whole cd)
-something embarassing, like tampons for guys.
-another survey (1 page, 10 page, a ten page survey)
Feel free to help if you want. I'm happy to talk about the hypothesis if you're interested.
2 comments:
what about things that smell bad. problem is that they will smell worse when packed. (10 things at once may smell worse than 10 things seperatly.) nasty smelling socks is an example. im sure you could find an additive to make all the socks smell the same severe. labs will have some stinky chemicals you could use and would be easy to quantify and change. moldy food is easy and cheep, but takes time.
can you tell them they will be pinched or something like that, or do they actually have to experience the uncomfort? pinching is easy to pack, especially if you don't actually do it. warn them of 20 pinches(back to back or all at once) or just one. or 5 rounds of 5 pinches at a time. you could make this one funny by having a really big guy with giant fingers standing behind you when you tell them. "thank you for volunteering for this experiment. behind me you will notice our entire defencive line. they have agreed to help me. today we study the psychological effects of severe pinching."
asking people to hold something like snotty tissues in their hand or pocket.
taking laps around the room in uncomfortable shoes or embarasing shoes (heels for guys and stinky kleets for girls). both embarasing and painful. (single or packed..1 lap or 5, or packs of several...3 laps, break, 3 laps) probably not the packs your looking for though.
ask people to right down something embarassing, telling them you wont read it(perhaps tell them they are being primed), then read it and laugh at them. tough to pack but it would be funny as hell.
put something gross in a drinking glass(hair, some goo, dirt) and ask them to drink out of the glass. 1-10 sips or whole glasses.
can you do something embarasing to make them uncomfortable, like wearing lacy underwear and flashing some hairy man crack when you drop something? a thong would be funny too. probably not your first choice, but they would be much less aware of their discomfort. you could use a measurement of time when considering packing. i.e. one second or 5, or 5 rounds of 2 seconds.
theres a few to start, im sure ill be thinking of more as time goes. feel free to call me to discus it as im sure there are specifics your looking for.
Do you have a good treat to compare this with? If so, needs to be same kind (e.g. food, money). If not, may I suggest Sour Grapes? As in, "Awww, shucks, sour grapes".
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