The Candy Bowl Theory or Tragedy of the Commons or Glucose Rage
Posted by mindorff on September 11th, 2009
A couple weeks ago I was randomly inspired to do something kind for my fellow colleagues. Not having any actual hypothesis in mind, I referred to it as a “social experiment”, hoping it would yield some sort of result or impact – and that it did.
I filled a small white bowl from our kitchen with jujubes and placed it at the end of my desk. I felt good about it. As people started coming into my office, they would notice the candy, be pleasantly surprised and indulge. Making them happy, made me even happier and gave me incentive to continue to fill up my bowl (at this point, the bowl was being emptied after about 5 – 6 hours).
People were showing up in my office for no apparent reason, making up all kinds of excuses to be there, all the while, feeding like vultures from the bowl. In true Pavlovian fashion, the mere sound of a bag opening or treats filling up the bowl, would create a response from the team (at this point the bowl was being emptied after about 2 – 3 hours).
The happier people were, the more excited I was to go out of my way to get more rubbery-textured confectioneries into that bowl the next day. Every day I would fill the bowl with something different – jujubes, pistachios, Clodhoppers, chocolate covered almonds, swedish berries, M&M’s (by the time the M&M’s hit the bowl, it took 20 minutes to empty).
Then, somewhere between the chocolate covered almonds and swedish berries, something started to happen. People started verbalizing preferences and complaining. Several “facts” about free candy and nuts began to emerge; apparently pistachios are “too much work” and chocolate covered almonds are “boring”. The more complaints I received, the less incentive I felt to fill up that stupid little white bowl.
As I stopped filling it up, the expectation for the candy became apparent. People were actually getting upset that there wasn’t anything in the bowl.
“Oh, the bowl is empty again?”
“Where the f&*% is the candy??”
“I’m not very happy about this empty candy bowl situation.”
In hopes of cutting down on the comments, I ended up taking the bowl out of my office altogether.
So, my theory is this – the candy bowl is just like life:
Unexpected pleasantries = satisfaction
Expected pleasantries = dissatisfaction
So the next time life hands you a gummie bear, just eat the friggin’ thing and be happy!
September 11th, 2009 » 9:48 am
I like chocolate almonds.
September 11th, 2009 » 10:14 am
“So the next time life hands you a gummie bear, just eat the friggin’ thing and be happy!”
Agreed. You could also replace “gummie bear” with any friday treat as well.
September 11th, 2009 » 10:19 am
I’m heading to your office right now and expecting gummie bears! :P
September 11th, 2009 » 10:24 am
I like chocolate almonds too.
September 11th, 2009 » 12:51 pm
What about gummie bears?
September 11th, 2009 » 1:30 pm
My mouth still hurts from the staples…
WHY DID YOU PUT STAPLES.
September 11th, 2009 » 2:22 pm
You better fill the f**k-ing candy blow.
September 11th, 2009 » 2:38 pm
Nice. You should try a similar experiment with a communal bowl with which office mates take turns filling with treats. We do it in my office area and it seems to work well. :)
September 11th, 2009 » 2:42 pm
Ha! so true.
September 11th, 2009 » 4:18 pm
I can confirm this theory as a frequent consumer… And I think I heard KG SCREAMING out my name yesterday because he thought I ate all the gummy bears. Candy drives people wild. Great theory Laura, let’s see how far we can take this…
September 12th, 2009 » 6:36 pm
Dan Ariely, writer of “Predictably Irrational” would love to hear this story. Rationally, one shouldn’t really complain about free food; however, there are some fundamental quirks in human nature. We fall in love with what we already have; and we focus on what we might lose, rather than what we might gain.
Once the food in the bowl became a routine occurrence, it ceased to be seen as “free” and became seen as “an entitlement” and people felt free to be picky and make demands.
September 14th, 2009 » 8:23 am
I am kind of curious about Keelan’s comment.
December 4th, 2009 » 4:20 pm
Well written Laura. :-) Made for a funny read.