The Three Types of People in the World

Stairs or Escalator?

The other day I went for a walk and I had some time to think about life. I came to the realization that our lives are nothing more than a series of seemingly complex layers of decisions. Yet as I continued to think, I began to realize that all of these choices that seem so complex on the surface are actually much more simple. I came to the conclusion that nearly all of our choices can be reduced to simple questions of act or do not act; active or passive; yes or no. And from this I realized that I could gather people into one of three groups based on their decision making. The first group are the people who ride escalators, the second take the stairs and the third walk up escalators. 

Escalator Riders: The Art of Passive Performance

Take a moment and think about an escalator. Imagine yourself approaching it as you see it shuttling people slowly upwards or downwards from one landing to another. They come in all different shapes and sizes, but their defining characteristic is that they assist in the transportation of people from one place to another. 

The first group of people approach the escalators step on and then stop, happily transported to their destination by their slow rising mechanical lift. These people progress through life willing to let things happen. They are content to accept their place in the world and drift with the masses from place to place. To ride an escalator is to detach oneself from free will and to become a passive observer of life. It's even rumored that the inventor of the escalator committed suicide in old age when he realized that he had simply given the world an excuse to become passive and lazy. 

Stair Climbers: Do it Yourself

If you're anything like me and you happen to interact with people and escalators on a regular basis, you may observe the ever bothersome person who simply states "I don't ride escalators, I'll take the stairs." Now after my rant about passive escalator riders, you may find it odd that I am complaining about stair climbers, the second type of person, as well. You may think, well there are many benefits of taking the stairs: resumption of free will, good exercise, muscle building, etc. These are all true statements, but they all miss an essential fact. Escalators help us get somewhere. 

Regardless of whether you choose to take the stairs or the escalator, you still exist and you are still always traveling from one place to another. The problem with taking the stairs is that by avoiding the escalators, you avoid the nagging urge to rest your legs, but you also miss the wonderful assistance of a machine that is designed to help you move. Escalators move at about the average speed of stair climbers, so whether you are a passive rider or a stair climber, you will both arrive at your destination at the same time.

Please Climb the Escalator

Personality type number three, my personal favorite, is the escalator walker. These are the people that truly have things figured out. They recognize the virtue of self-propulsion, exercise and personal choice, but they also recognize the fact that escalators were built to assist. By exerting the same amount of relative effort as a stair climber and also getting the assistance of the riders, the escalator walkers get where they are going twice as fast. 

I realize that this analogy is not perfect, but I would venture to say that it's pretty good. At any given moment, we are all likely to be making a decision about something. We can choose to do nothing or we can choose to do everything ourselves. Or better still, we can learn to ask for help and accept the benefits of the world that we live in without relinquishing our ability to effect positive change in our own lives. So at any given time, you can decide who you want to be and what path to take. So please help join me in encouraging everyone to just start walking up the escalators!

MyStuckMovingLife: One Year Later

Still Stuck, But Hopefully Moving Soon

For those of you who routinely read my blog, you've probably noticed that I tend to cover a wide variety of topics and I rarely post anything about my own personal life. My aim is always to generate discussions that focus on the core of our human experience, and often I feel that talking about progressive trends in cities is a great way to do this. I've been at this now for about a year and people ask me often what motivates me to continue and to be fully honest I'm never really sure, but I find it quite calming. I want to take the time to give an update not about the world that we live in, but rather about myself as a part of it.

When I first started blogging I chose the name MyStuckMovingLife and I always hoped that nobody would ask me why, because I did not really know the answer. But now I do. I realized that through most, perhaps all, of my life I've felt limited in one way or another, but I've always had a pervasive sense of optimism about the world. I've felt confined and held back, unable to push forward, but I've always hoped that one day things might be different. But now for the first time, it's really all about to be different.

Stuck

Most of you probably don't know much about me or about my life, because very few people do and you are probably not exactly sure what I mean when I say in a very vague sense that my whole world is soon to change. But here it is in a nutshell. I've spent the last three years at a college that was not in any way a good fit for me. For the entirety of my time I've felt drained, frustrated and held back from achieving everything that I want to. That's not to say that I haven't been successful; I'm graduating a year early with excellent grades. Simply put, I've been unhappy and unfulfilled. But I have 7 days left of classes and then it's all over. 

Moving

In one week I will reach the end of my 15 year formal academic career; the goal that I've been working towards for 75% of my life will be achieved. The next week I graduate and then only days later I fly to Europe for the vacation I've always dreamed of. I'll be reunited with one of my best friends who I haven't seen in a year, and she and I will travel to Prague, Rome, Florence and Paris together (which I'm sure will provide me with some great material for future posts). And then I will return and start full-time work and enter a new phase of my life, one that I hope to be rich and full of meaning. 

Life

It's almost surreal when I think about it, but this is really me. This is my life. I've spent the last 20 years preparing for "the real world" and now it's about to be right here for me to touch. But in some ways the role of the student, at least in my experience, is quite sad. You are told over and over for years on end that you have to prepare for the future and for what you want to do with your life. But all the while you are in fact alive; you are somehow "preparing" for your life while also living your life. It seems like a contradiction to me. I could tell myself that I won't start living until the day that I receive my diploma, but I simply can't accept that any longer.

I am and always have been an active participant in my own life, but it seems that I've only just come to accept it. I've spent preparing for this time, and I'm more ready than ever before to move forward. 

How Restaurants Trick Us

The Psychology of Food and Dieting

Most of us want to eat healthy. We wake up in the morning and think "today I will only make healthy choices, and I will avoid sweets." Somehow that never seems to work. Part of the reason for this is that some people have no self-control and will eat anything that is put in front of them (ME), but there are ways that the food industry itself can influence us and encourage us to make unhealthy choices with foods. One of the worst offenders happens to be one of my favorites: The Cheesecake Factory, pictured below. 

Subtle Restaurant Tricks

There are really a wide range of ways that we as consumers can misperceive food. Many of these tricks are found in restaurants, but it is important to be aware of them in almost any food environment.

Menus

Some restaurants have begun placing calorie counts next to foods, which is actually very helpful for consumers. However, there is a problem with this and it is that just because a food is low-calorie does not mean that it is healthy at all. But simply seeing the calorie counts of foods on a menu gently encourages people to make lower-calorie choices. 

Unless a restaurant segments foods within the menu into "regular" and "healthy" sections. When all "healthy" options are listed together in the same section, consumers are happy because they are aware of this section and know that they have it as an option, but they then are more likely to consume from the regular menu. To actually influence choices in a positive way, menus should not separate healthy from unhealthy options because the separation allows people to consider them separately.

Ambience

This is one of the more subtle ways that we are influenced by our surroundings. I've always had theories as to why restaurants operate in certain ways, but now I have an explanation.

Have you ever noticed that restaurants are often quite cold? I always thought that it was to make you uncomfortable and leave faster, but the reality is that because food and alcohol create a warming sensation, cold temperatures actually encourage us to eat more!

Lights have an equally large effect. Dim and warm lights tend to help relax us, which encourages us to think less and eat more and more slowly. Bright lights have the opposite effect.

I am always annoyed with TVs in restaurants, but they too serve a purpose. TVs distract us and slow us down, which makes us spend more time sitting. This in turn causes us to actually spend more time (and money) eating. 

Food

There are two ways that food itself can be the thing that tricks us. The first is that the texture of food influences whether or not we think that it is healthy. We assume that crunchier more texturized foods are healthier than soft and chewy foods. The reason is that we believe that crunchier things are less processed and closer to nature. The perfect example of this is Clif bars. I always thought that Clif bars were healthy and I would eat them often while exercising; part of what attracted me to the bars was their rough texture. But it turns out that eating a Clif bar is almost as bad as eating a Snickers! On the other hand, soft and chewy Lara bars are actually better for you! 

The other food related trick is that fast food restaurants that include "healthy" options actually influence us to make unhealthier choices. For example, when McDonalds began offering salads in the mid-2000s, people actually ate more Big Macs. The reason for this is that when we think about the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods, we expend energy considering doing something good for us. This makes us actually feel more health-conscious, which makes us more likely to reward ourselves with a Big Mac! 

Netflix Psychological Price Increases

Netflix May Be About to Raise Prices

For years, Netflix has charged $7.99 per month for it's online streaming subscription and by all accounts the company is doing quite well. In an attempt to bring in more money each month from subscribers, Netflix appears ready to use some psychology to entice you into paying more!

Middle Price Trick

Many consumers are unaware of the middle price trick, sometimes called reference pricing. This is the practice of using tiered pricing for similar goods to entice the consumer to choose the middle option. There are a variety of examples of this.

Take Starbucks for instance. On menus, coffees are typically offered in three sizes: tall, grande and venti. When choosing to purchase a coffee you may think, consciously or subconsciously, that the venti would be too much, but that the tall would not be enough. You are psychologically enticed to choose the size in the middle, the grande, because you perceive it as average. But Starbucks also has a fourth option that is not advertised, a short, which is even smaller than the tall. If you walked into a Starbucks and saw "short" "tall" or "grande" on the menu, you would be more likely to choose a "tall" because again, you would think to be making the middle of the road choice.

Netflix

This past year, Netflix moved in a similar direction by offering a lower priced option. There is some speculation that Netflix may introduce a tiered system by which the low end service is $7.99 per month, while a premium option is $8.99 and a super-premium option is $9.99. This move would not really be about offering more choice to customers; the purpose here would be to make you feel "cheap" with your $7.99 subscription and move over to the $8.99.

Subtle eh?

I'm not arguing that companies are somehow evil for charging prices in this way. It is up to the consumer to really think about what their needs are when making a purchase. It is my hope that learning a bit about this type of pricing strategy will stop some of you from being fooled into buying more than you really want or need.

On Making Life Decisions

Life as the Endless Consumer

I think of the word consumer as bad. To me it stirs up images of McDonalds, obesity, crowded McMansions and televisions. I spend most of my time running from the consumer label, but the faster I run, the more I realize that it is impossible to escape. Almost every decision that we make has been commercialized; we have been segmented and targeted by unassuming men holed up in marketing departments. No matter what choices we make, we fit some sort of mold and the notion of individuality slips further from our grasp.

Everyday we must make decisions, some are easy and some are more challenging. We know immediately when we get out of bed that we will walk to the bathroom and brush our teeth with some Crest Toothpaste and then use our Keurig to make some Starbucks coffee. These decisions are almost thoughtless for us, but even these simple morning routines are representative of a larger commercialized reality.

Making Big Decisions

At this point in our society, some decisions still require active thought. I would categorize these as big decisions, things such as where to work and where to live. Granted, not everybody has the luxury of making such choices, but for those who do, they choices can be daunting.

Let's just consider the idea of choosing a place to live and imagine that it is an independent choice and that we can choose anywhere. You might at first be really happy that you have so many choices, but when you think more you realize that whatever you choose will come to represent you as a consumer. 

San Francisco, Paris, London, Sydney, Nebraska, Alaska, Hawaii: all of these places represent something different. You will have to think long and hard before you make a choice, but that choice ultimately will help to define you further as a consumer. 

Choice Creates Anxiety

Even choice itself is a paradox. We all think that we want more options so that we can make sure we choose something that's really the best, but when presented with a seemingly unlimited number of choices, we feel unhappy. The more options we have, the more likely we are to feel regretful for having not chosen a particular thing and the more we will worry about whether or not we are making the right choice. There probably is always a "best" choice, but finding it can elicit so much stress.

People are actually happiest when they have no choices because they are most willing to accept whatever the condition is that they are given. In many ways this runs counter to the notions of freedom and free will. So we cannot eliminate choices; to do so would run against the common will of our society. 

Searching for Happiness

So what do we do? Everyday new brands are created and more things are commercialized and as a result, the number of choices that we have is ever increasing. At the same time, our satisfaction is decreasing for the same reason. But an attempt to reduce choice may put us on the path towards an autocratic society. 

I believe that the main purpose in life is to find happiness. The more clutter there is in the world, the harder that happiness is to find. It seems that the key is becoming independent of consumerism, but I'm not sure that we as a society know how. 

What Makes a City Feel Safe

Safety from Environmental Clues

Walking through a city at night, most of us will not encounter any problems. Even in the most dangerous cities in America, violent crimes strike no more than about 2% of the population per year. But despite the fact that most people go about their day to day lives unharmed by criminals, some areas really just have "a bad feeling." Sometimes it is just our perception of a place that makes us feel as though it is unsafe; many "bad" areas actually have low crime rates. But what exactly is it about an area that can make it feel more or less safe?

It turns out, there are a lot of things that can make a perfectly nice area feel less safe. Take this picture for example. When I looked at this picture one of the things that stuck out to me was the uncollected trash; it looks rather foreboding. But no imagine the same view with no trash. Then I am apt to see a bike-friendly sidewalk in an open area. That feels like a much safer thought.

Now we will look at some specific examples of what makes a neighborhood feel unsafe.

Trash: As I already mentioned, trash is one of the biggest subconscious indicators of safety. When we see trash on the street we think two things. The first is that the people who live here are either rude or do not care about their community. Both of these things make us worried. The second thought it even more ominous. Uncollected trash is a sign of lackluster city services. If the trash man won't come, how can I be sure that police do? It's an anxiety laden trap, trash does not actually make an area less safe.

Feeling that an area is Lower-Class or Boring: Unfortunately in many people's minds, lower-class and boring go together. In a "boring" neighborhood buildings have similar designs and it is challenging to discern where exactly you are; no landmarks or notable buildings help to guide you. Wandering through an area that seems rather similar and nondescript you may think "why would anyone want to be here?" You assume that nobody makes the choice to be here unless they have to or are too poor to live somewhere else. You then think that because you are in an area that you perceive to be lower-class, your risk for becoming a victim of a crime rises. 

No Pedestrians: Seeing people walking around is comforting. When lots of pedestrians are roaming an area, we assume that it means that this is a tourist friendly area or simply an area where people feel comfortable walking around. We think that other people would not bother to walk if an area was really unsafe so we should not either. This is more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than anything. Foot traffic is not actually indicative of fewer crimes.

Distance from Starbucks: I'm serious, Starbucks seems to count, at least in my book. People tend to associate Starbucks with upper-class or tourist areas. If you are visiting a city and see a Starbucks, you know that you are in a nice area. But if you keep walking and begin to realize that you haven't seen your favorite coffee shop for several miles, you may actually begin to worry. 

This map took forever to find so I hope you appreciate it! But look. The touristy areas of DC, namely downtown and the Northwest quadrant are full of Starbucks. Wander into areas where you feel less safe, namely Southeast DC across the Anacostia River, and there is only one location!

Heat Increases Crime

Why Heat Increases Aggression

This topic has implications for those living in cities as well as for people in rural areas. I wanted to talk a bit about the relationship between heat and crime. While it has been establishes that cities are safer than rural areas, both types of areas experience spikes in crime during heat waves and during warmer months in general. 

One of the first studies about heat and aggression was this one shown in the graph. As you can see, hotter weather tends to lead to more riots. Similar studies have been conducted in many cities. Houston, TX for example studied the increase in murder rates that tend to occur during the summer months. So interesting, but what exactly is it that makes people more aggressive in the heat?

Heat Increases Testosterone Production: The hotter it is outside, the more the body naturally produces testosterone. Particularly in men, testosterone production is linked to aggression. The more testosterone a person has, the more statistically likely they are to act in an aggressive way. 

Increased Time Outside: When temperatures rise, more people come out from their homes. Interactions between people increase and alone this enough can increase the likelihood that someone will be involved in a crime. When there are more people in an area, the percentage of people committing crimes may stay the same, but total crimes may increase. Heat almost artificially boosts population by bringing people together.

More Irritable: This one is perhaps the most subjective, but lots of people struggle to sleep when it is too hot. Many people do not have air conditioners and so in the summer have to sleep in extreme temperatures. Heat can make it harder to fall asleep, leading to less sleep per night. When people get less sleep they tend to be more short tempered and irritable. This can lead people to act in more aggressive ways towards others.

Obesity: The Last Form of Discrimination

Obesity Based Discrimination

I started thinking about this topic when I read a news article about Atlantic City, NJ last night. There is a casino that hires women (and some men) as models and calls them "Borgata Babes." In order to work as a Borgata Babe, the employee must participate in weekly weigh-ins and never gain more than 7% of their hire-date weight. When some employees were fired for gaining too much weight, they were dismissed from their jobs. They then took the challenge to court and lost!

In the United States, we have over they years learned that it is bad to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, income and just about everything else, but not obesity yet. In fact, only one state, Michigan, has laws that protect obese Americans from discrimination. For those who believe that it is acceptable to discriminate against those who are obese, a common argument is that you choose to become obese. In some ways this is true, but there are so many conditional circumstances such as income and metabolism that tip the scales strongly against some people.

Right now over 33% of Americans are obese and around 70% are overweight. These numbers are certainly not good, but let's look at some of the ways that obese Americans are discriminated against.

More likely to be perceived as incompetent: Many people look at those who are obese and think that they are in some way out of control. They are less likely to trust obese Americans than healthier weight Americans and when asked about intelligence, are likely to give obese people lower marks.

Skipped at Work: Whether for hiring, performance evaluations or promotions, obesity makes someone more likely to be ignored in the workplace. This is unfortunate because there is no evidence that obesity makes someone less competent. Some offices will even refuse to hire someone who is obese because they fear that they will have to pay more for health insurance.

Charged Extra: In case you have never noticed, seats in public places tend to be designed for skinny people. Seats are found in lots of places from movie theatres, to parks to subways to airplanes. Many people do not fit well in the "average" seat. As a result, many companies, most notably airlines, charge extra for obese customers. Rather than adjusting seat sizes, obese people are often charged for the price of two seats. An obese person is still one person, not two.

Hopefully in the coming years some of these forms of discrimination will change. A new study was just published that states that shaming obese people by calling them fat and things like that actually increases their chances of remaining obese.

Sex in Advertising

Sex Appeal Makes us Shop

In my last post I talked about the disconnect in advertising, but today I wanted to more specifically examine the way that sex is used in ads. Sometimes it seems appropriate to use some sex appeal when trying to sell something, particularly when the product is related to physical attractiveness, but sometimes it seems pretty far off base.

Before we look into specific ads, it begs to be asked if using sex in advertising works. YES. Sex is the strongest psychological trigger that humans have, so using sex as a way to showcase a product will make a potential consumer more likely to pay attention. It almost always works at least this well. Sometimes, when ads are well done, they can make you feel on a more subconscious level as though having the product will transform you into the attractive person in the ad.

So now that we have decided it works, let's see some ads! I will start with some harmless ones, but if you keep reading through, I will show you some that really cross the line!

Ad 1: California Sun

I would say that this ad is pretty harmless. It's display relates to the product; the woman is shown wearing a bathing suit on a beach and the ad is for a tanning product. It's a good fit, the woman appears satisfied and all together the ad is not unrealistic.

Ad 2: Abercrombie and Fitch

This one is a little bit stranger than the one before it. It is a clothing advertisement so a bit of sex appeal would make sense. A bit. This ad shows about 4 inches of jeans and a belt, not a great way for Abercrombie to display what it's clothes look like! The rest, maybe 2 feet of space is just a man's chest. Looks great, but it's a stretch to say this is really a clothing advertisement.

Ad 3: Toilet Paper...

I love this. Two nearly naked people standing near a toilet in a toilet paper ad. If you ever asked me what the least sexy thing was I may have said toilet paper. But to this company it does not seem to matter. Toilet paper will do NOTHING to make you sexier. I see no reasonable case for this ad. But still, I would say this is at least harmless.

Ad 4: Dolce & Gabbana

I believe this ad was posted in 2007 and as far as I know it is universally seen as extremely controversial. Okay so it passes my measure of showing clothing, but pay attention to the scene. The woman is being forcefully held down by a man who is lurking over her while others watch ominously in the foreground. This conjures up images of a gang rape. It says to men, "wearing these clothes will make you attractive enough that you can have power over women" and it says to women "no matter how good you look you are weak, men will take advantage of you, enjoy it." Bad.

Even after this I have to say the worst is yet to come. This time in the form of a video.

 

Louis Vuitton. Tell me this isn't the saddest ad you've ever seen. It shows a drugged up woman wandering the streets and having sex with a man in a car and then glamorizes it. This woman is a prostitute wearing designer clothes. This ad has clearly stepped over the line.

I hope you've enjoyed these ads, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!