Learn about why people prefer round numbers over precise ones, thanks to a principle behavioral economists call attribute framing; and whether there really are wasps inside figs.
Learn about why people prefer round numbers over precise ones, thanks to a principle behavioral economists call attribute framing; and whether there really are wasps inside figs.
People prefer round numbers even when the precise number is better news by Kelsey Donk
Are there really wasps inside figs? by Cameron Duke
Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/are-there-really-wasps-in-figs-plus-people-like-round-numbers-even-when-theyre-bad
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, we’re doing a deep dive into why people prefer round numbers over precise ones; and whether there really are wasps inside figs.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
If I were to give you a choice between a medication that’s 90 percent effective and one that’s 93.4 percent effective, which one would you choose? If you’re like the participants of a recent study, you’d want the 90 percent effective one, even though the other medication is actually more effective. It’s hard to believe, but it turns out that people prefer round numbers even when the precise number is better news.
This finding comes from researchers who study behavioral economics. For years, economists have been studying the idea of attribute framing, which deals with how the presentation of information influences how people make decisions. Stuff like: which is worse, getting dumped or breaking up? Would you rather buy a product that’s 95 percent effective, or one that has a 5 percent failure rate? Which is scarier, global warming or climate change?
For this study, scientists wanted to figure out if numbers themselves could change people’s minds. They asked 1,500 people questions like: “Imagine your friend is coming over for dinner and you’re making their favorite lasagna. The beef you use is 80 percent lean. What do you think of the beef?” Some participants got the round numbers, while others got numbers like 80.31 percent. Still others got a negative framing: the beef was either 20 or 19.69 percent fat. In both cases, people perceived the beef described in exact numbers to be less healthy than the beef described in round numbers. When people only heard the fat content, the difference was even more pronounced.
The same thing held true in all five studies the researchers conducted: people prefer round numbers to non-round ones, and that influences their feelings about the data.
The researchers think this is because specific numbers are unusual. When you hear a number with a decimal point, you pause to think about it. People then tend to compare that very specific number to the closest available one. So your brain automatically compares 80.31 to 100, or 19.69 to zero. And since the specific number can never compare to the ideal number you’re comparing it to, you perceive it negatively. “80.31 percent lean beef? Why isn’t it 100 percent?”
The researchers were shocked by this finding. But they say it could make a big splash in the marketing and public health worlds. If used well, it could help public health officials communicate more effectively with the general public. The researchers said these officials should be super careful about using non-round numbers in their messaging. Instead, round up or down to make sure people can easily understand what the numbers mean.
You might have heard a disgusting legend about figs: that is, when you bite into one, you’re actually chowing down on wasp eggs. Is that true? Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news: the figs you eat don’t actually have wasp eggs in them. The bad news: the figs you eat probably contain an adult wasp instead.
First, some fig background: a fig isn’t actually a fruit. It’s a grouping of flowers called an inflorescence. But it’s inside-out, so it requires some ridiculous evolutionary gymnastics for pollination to happen. While different species do things slightly differently, this is generally how that process goes down.
For figs to be pollinated, the pollen needs to somehow find its way into the flower — which, again, is inside the fig. This is where the fig wasp comes in. She crawls through an opening in the fig, called an ostiole [OSS-tee-ole], carrying pollen. As she crawls through this ultra-tight space, her legs and wings snap off. By the time she’s inside the fig, she’s pretty much just a stump.
Kind of horrifying, right? I mean, she better have a very good reason for doing it! And she does. If that fig is the male version, called a caprifig [CAP-ruh-fig], she gets to lay her eggs inside the flowers. The eggs hatch in two waves. The first wave is entirely male. These guys are blind, flightless, and they lack a digestive system. They have jaws, though, which are often used to fight their brothers to the death in a figgy Battle-Royale. The females hatch second, and they mate with their one surviving brother before burrowing their way to freedom carrying two things — fertilized eggs and fig pollen.
So what does the fig get out of this? Well, it plays a bit of a trick on the fig wasp. The caprifigs that the wasps want to crawl into look exactly like the female figs that they don’t. If a fig wasp crawls into a female fig, she won’t be able to lay eggs in the female flowers. But she scatters a ton of pollen in this process. That triggers seed production in the fig. And the wasp? She dies a lonely, hungry death.
The female figs are the ones you eat, but you won’t find a whole wasp corpse in there. Figs will go all Sarlacc pit on the captive wasp by dissolving it with an enzyme called ficin [FIKE-in]. So it’s just extra protein! The crunchy bits inside of a fig are just seeds. I promise.
CODY: WHAT DID WE LEARN TODAY ASHLEYYYYYYYYY??!?!!?!!11111
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk and Cameron Duke, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!