Okay, so I’ve been digging into this whole “fairness bias” thing in psychology, and let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride. I wanted to see this bias in action, not just read about it in some textbook.
My Little Experiment
I started by, well, just observing people. You know, like at the grocery store, watching how people split the bill at a restaurant, even just seeing how kids divide up candy.
First Steps: Just Watching
- Spent a couple of hours at a local cafe. Noticed how groups handled paying.
- Observed families at a park, especially when it came to snacks and sharing.
It’s amazing what you see when you’re actually looking. I saw some people go to great lengths to make sure things were perfectly even, almost to a fault. Like, splitting a cookie down the middle with a ruler – okay, maybe not a ruler, but you get the idea.
Getting My Hands Dirty
Then, I decided to do a little, informal experiment of my own. Nothing fancy, just me and a few friends.
The Setup:
- Grabbed a bag of mixed candies – some everyone loved, some were just “meh.”
- Gathered five friends. Told them we were just hanging out, but I was secretly taking notes. (They were cool with it, I promise!).
I basically dumped the candy on the table and said, “Help yourselves.” And then I just watched. It was fascinating!
What I Saw:
- One friend immediately started sorting the candy into equal piles, making sure everyone got the same number of the “good” ones.
- Another friend was more relaxed, just grabbing a handful, but still kept glancing at what others had.
- One person just sat back, let everyone else take what they wanted, and then took what was leftover.
The Conclusion (So Far)
It was interesting, but, just doing something one time is not enough, I need much more data before i can really say I understand anything. This ‘fairness bias’ or ‘bias psychology’ thing isn’t as clean cut as books make it out to be. People seem to be wired to care about fairness. I’m gonna keep messing around with this, for sure. Maybe next time I’ll try it with a bigger group, or change up the “rewards.” Stay tuned!
