Sweat the small stuff

[scaeagles]

I once read of a study where a psychology student, doing some sort of required experiment for his masters picked a suburban neighborhood of around 100 homes.

Everyday, for 30 days, this student went to each door and gave the inhabitants $5.

After that 30 day period, the game plan changed. For the next 30 days, one third got $5 still, another third got $3, and the final third got $1. Many of the people were upset that their money was cut back. After a couple of days, when it became known throughout the entire neighborhood that some were getting more than others, the student was verbally assaulted on several occassions by those receiving less.

The next 30 days, another change. The third that was getting the $5 still got it, and everyone else got none.

The student was physically assaulted once when he passed a door. He witnessed neighbor turning against neighbor in arguments when he would leave a house delivering the money and bypassing a the house of someone else standing in their yard. It apparently caused great angst throughout the community, much more than the student had ever thought it would. So much so they called a community meeting and explained the experiment to try to calm the anger between those that continued to get the $5 and those who were reduced and cut off.

I suppose my point is that GD may be happier if the bagels were never given as a gift. You don't miss what you've never been given. When what you are given is less than what you are used to, it becomes irritating. This is not to be critical of GD in the least, just to point out that this is a common psychological issue with the human condition.