The Washington Post reports that a recent study indicates that participants, especially men, would rather give themselves a light shock than be alone with their thoughts.
From the article:
“And while only 6 of the 24 women shocked themselves, 12 of the 18 men did so.”
3 Questions That Arise From This Story
1. What if being alone with your thoughts means “spending time daydreaming about getting free, mild shocks?” If so, did this study resolve anything?
2. What is the usual follow-up thought to shocking yourself? “Gee, that was a dumb thing to do in the name of science?” (Answer, apparently not, because the report says the people knew what the shocks were like before shocking themselves.)
3. What are 18 out of 42 of you thinking about that you have to shock yourself to change the subject? Was it the math of where we got “18 out of 42?” The math is good. Trust us. And stop shocking yourselves.
