Can we pick secret option c instead?
The concept of ‘Would You Rather?’ is relatively simple enough, you’re given two unappealing choices and you have to pick between the two.
A group of researchers at Florida University has asked two very nasty ‘Would You Rather?’ questions; no matter what your choice, you won’t be happy with the answer.
Question one:
Would you rather amputate your dominant hand or have a swastika tattooed prominently on your face?
Researchers found that out of 166 students at the University, 70% said they would rather lose their hand than be branded a Nazi.
Their next question was slightly worse, but had a closer outcome.
Question two:
Would you rather die right now or live into your 90s, but be widely known as a paedophile?
Of the 115 people questioned, 53% said they would rather die immediately.
The aim of the study was to prove that keeping our moral reputation is among humanity’s most important values.
Study co-author Andrew J Vonasch, now at the University of North Carolina, told Seeker:
“People are willing to do many things to avoid a bad reputation that other theories might not have predicted.
“Certainly, we already knew that people cared about their reputations, but this research shows that we care a whole lot about it, and we argue that this is because the self fundamentally serves social purposes.”
You can find the full study here.
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