The concept of ‘Would You Rather?’ is simple enough.
You’re given two equally difficult decisions, good or bad, and you have to make an agonising choice between them.
A group of researchers at Florida University studying behaviour have posed two very nasty ‘Would You Rather?’ questions as part of their research. They’re both difficult choices, and the results of which reveal some interesting insights into what’s important to human beings.
Have a go yourself.
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.
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 study was looking at human values, and found that that keeping our moral reputation is among our most important priorities; for some, it’s even more important than life.
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.
