Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other
This study won me over early for one reason: it starts with a reference to my favorite mockumentary: “This is Spinal Tap”. Not only is it rare to hear a cult movie referenced in academic research, but it is even rarer to have reference perfectly setup the purpose and results of the study. The scene described from “This is Spinal Tap” is where Nigel is showing off his stockpile of rock n’ roll gear and stumbles upon his amp that can play be turned up to 11. The director then argues about just making the amp louder and keeping it on a 10 point scale. The two banter back and forth. Watch the video clip below, I guarantee it’ll be funnier than me explaining.
Is eleven louder? No, but it sounds like it’s louder. If, god forbid, someone asked a group of people to rate my awesome 70s style haircut, would it sound cooler if 6 out of 9 people liked my haircut or 12 out of 18? Both scales show the same proportion, ~66.6%, but does the bigger scale increase my hair’s coolness factor? This is the idea that the researchers set out to prove. The obvious, and frustrating, example is made of Consumer Reports’ rating individual parts of a car on a 5 points scale, then changing the scale for the overall rating of the car to a 100 point scale.
So does the study conclude that the average Joe thinks like Nigel? You bet it did. Tell Fender and Marshall that the secret to increasing their sales price is to let people crank it up to 11, even if is only as loud as their old models. More importantly, should report the rating of my 70s haircut with a higher scale? Yes. Does it change the fact that it looks awful? No.
Citation:
Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other. Expanding and Contracting Numerical Dimensions Produces Preference Reversals
Psychological Science, Vol. 20, Issue 9, p. 1074-1078
Katherine A. Burson (University of Michigan), Richard P. Larrick (Duke), John G. Lynch Jr (Duke, now at University of Colorado, Boulder)
