"Appeasing the Gods?"

Abstract

Previous research has shown that people who anticipate an unpleasant event choose to suffer during the anticipation period. The present experiment was designed to determine whether people would choose to suffer more when an unpleasant event was likely, but not certain, to occur. Ninety-five students were assigned on the basis of chance or task performance to eat pleasant foods, unpleasant foods, or probably to eat unpleasant foods. Subjects in the unpleasant conditions chose to suffer more than subjects in the pleasant conditions, with men in the "probably unpleasant" condition choosing to suffer most. This occurred regardless whether the unpleasant event was attributed to chance or task performance. The results were interpreted as support for the idea that people choose to suffer in the present in the hope of experiencing less discomfort in the future.