Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Dangers of Iced Coffee

Thaler and Sunstein, in Nudge, talk about how the initial conditions are so important in priming a group to react one way or another. They cite an experiment which went one way if the group was given hot coffee first, and a different way if they were given iced coffee.

“Those given iced coffee are more likely to see other people as more selfish, less sociable, and, well, colder than those who are given hot coffee.”

5 comments:

randy said...

oh come ON, gruntled. this is just getting too silly.

most americans PREFER hot coffee, even on a blistering summer morning!

i'm just about the only person i know who actually digs iced coffee.
so i geusss i would be the sole guy there happy to get his iced java, and thus kindly disposed towards those who proferred it to me.

Gruntled said...

Yes, silly. (Saturday I post silly).

randy said...

oh.
i see.
well, THAT'S very different...

(a la emily litella/gildna radner)

Anonymous said...

Would a centrist drink warm coffee?

Gruntled said...

I start with it hot, and nurse it all morning until it is lukewarm. If the coffee house is going to closed the next day (can you imagine) I buy it hot and put it in the fridge for the next day. Every way is OK by me.

I don't know if that is centrism, or low-maintenance-ism.