Quick question...

[silversolitaire]

Imagine this. Someone offers you and someone else 100 bucks. The other person gets to decide on a mode of splitting it up and you have the choice to either accept or reject the deal. The other person offers you splitting it 7/3 (i.e. he gets 70%, you get 30% of the amount).

[Poll #345971]

Answer this spontaneously please.

Comments

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

i don't really understand the question...

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

If I explain it to you too much you'll probably not answer spontaneously anymore. Gist is, you both get 100 bucks, the other guy decides on how it's split up between you two and the guy offers you 30% of the amount. What would you do?

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

ok, maybe i get it a bit better now.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Sorry *hugs*. It was just a random poll I thought of.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

why? my natural sense of justice demands a 50/50 split unless he has some reason to deserve more.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Most people feel that way but you're essentially rejecting 30 bucks by rejecting the deal, don't you? ^.~

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

don't you get to argue and get more though?

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Nope. There's just the offer and nothing else. Undecided on whether when you reject the deal the other one gets nothing as well or everything... This would probably influence the answer too. I just think that most people spontaneously reject it because their sense of justice just overrides the possibility of nabbing a free 30 bucks.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

so unfair! *stamps foot*

too much unfairness. too many things to argue about. but yes, very interesting that people think about fairness before a free 30 bucks.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Yes I find that interesting too... I mean YES! It's fucking unfair! So my first impulse too is to go "What the hell?! NEVER!"

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

>>>Undecided on whether when you reject the deal the other one gets nothing as well or everything...

but that's a key point. it basically determines who's "in control" of the situation.
if my rejection cancels the whole deal, that basically means a power of veto.
if my rejection does nothing, only grants that the other guy gets all.. then in fact his 7/3 offer is kind of "generous".
that's if we know beforhand.

if neither of us knows what my rejection in end effect does.. then it's a gamble. on both sides. the other one might be more careful about what ratio to offer in fear of pissing me off.

then there's the question how much in need of cash i am.. :p

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point... the right of veto when your rejection cancels the deal. I should add that maybe. Since otherwise you're just being screwed over. But then again, taking the 30 bucks in this case would mean taking at least SOME money out of this sucker's winnings... LOL. Ah decisions... I'll just leave it ambiguous like that.

[emanuelle.livejournal.com]

Hey, who would reject 30 bucks??

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Yes I know but it's so unfair! XD;

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

i would still tolerate 6/4 (i get 4).. i would accept.

7/3 shows that that other person is a greedy bastard peasant and deserves shit, so i would reject it. :p

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Hehehe yes... can you tick your answer? So it shows up in the poll nicely? ^.^

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Thankee kindly!

[seal7.livejournal.com]

I'm... almost certain that was 10 bucks just half an hour ago... >_> it's a little different with the tenfold amount... oh well. o_O

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Erm... >_>; I had 10 bucks there first, but I thought it was really pathetic, so I added a zero. But why would you accept getting 3 bucks but reject getting 30 bucks?

[seal7.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I wasn't even sure who you meant got which amount since that explanation wasn't in there before either, but I figured that with 10 bucks the splitting really didn't matter and if I was the one who got 7 all the better.
...
So I assumed the other part was an overly nice person before I assumed they were a bastard o_O
Er.
Okay. Who'd have the boldness to suggest a 7:3 split for THEM?
... I'd probably reject that too.
*weirded out now*
See what you've done! o_o;

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

LOL! Then change up your answer! But that's exactly the thing. Does your sense for justive override your desire to bag a free 30 bucks?

[seal7.livejournal.com]

*changes it*
Well yes, yes it does. >_<

[seal7.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, this really only works in a certain amount range. If we were talking about, say, 10 000 or more, I don't think I'd reject 3000 if I had no way of a) getting rid of the other person or b) arguing about the splitting.
And I can still buy my own bread so I can afford to reject 30 free bucks... there might be people who can't.

It's still interesting though, I dunno if it quite works as proof that people aren't as greedy as is commonly assumed... maybe a little, though.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

You're right, the amount definitely plays in. Like you said, 3 bucks is trivial and you ignore it. Who cares. 30 bucks is kinda nice to have, but still it's worth rejecting it to make a point or just be annoying. 300... who'd give up 300 just like that unless you're really rich? 3000? No way! And after that, of course not! So yeah, it really only works in the range of "kinda nice to pad up the pocket book a bit".

I don't think you can actually draw any conclusions from that, at least not on such a general basis such as "People aren't greedy". If at all I think you could say that people tend to feel stronger about justice when smaller amounts of money are involved and at some point they just go "Ah what the heck, just give me the money, you greedy bastard". Which might perhaps say that your sense of justice can be bought... nyahaha.

[vampiresetsuna.livejournal.com]

I can't answer that? If the other guy is doing most of the work, then he should get the most. If someone offered us extra money, for no reason at all, I couldn't take it unless i had earned it. If he was being nice and splitting it, for no reason at all, 30$ is better than nothing. Huh.

[boixboi.livejournal.com]

In the theoretical situation where the $100 is free and no real earning is involved, a natural split is 50/50; because you have the power to accept and reject the deals offered to you, you should have the bargaining power to get it split equally.