Effects of Scarcity on Likelihood of Accepting Free Snacks

Sierra Graham

PSYCH 321

Dr. Cerro

21SEP2020

Proposed Introduction and Research Question

 Scarcity is often used in marketing to make a product or service appear more desirable

(Cialdini, n.d.) If a person becomes convinced that they only have a limited opportunity to attain

something it makes them more likely to seek out the object than if they were not under the

guise of scarcity. Human nature causes us to want things immediately rather than wait an

indefinite amount of time. Self-oriented people are more likely to succumb to this impulse than

people that are more oriented towards others (Miyamoto et al., 2018, p. 428.) The alternative

of self-orientation is others-orientation refers to the tendency to “promote aspects of others,”

rather than promote aspects of oneself. In a case of a scarce supply of free snacks, self-oriented

people will be more likely to take snacks than leave them for others.

Oddly, although scarcity is known to increase allure, the reverse seems to happen once

there is only one of something left. No one wants to take the last cookie. For some reason, it

has become a social norm to exercise self-restraint when a group gets down to the last piece of

food from a communally shared dish (Krueger, 2017.) My research question is: will more people

be likely to take snacks from a full jar or a nearly empty jar?

References

Cialdini's six principles of influence. (n.d.).

http://changingminds.org/techniques/general/cialdini/cialdini.htm

Krueger, J. (2015, August 17). Cookie Dilemma. Psychology Today.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/one-among-many/201508/cookie-dilemma
Miyamoto, Y., Yoo, J., Levine, C. S., Park, J., Boylan, J. M., Sims, T., Markus, H. R., Kitayama, S., Kawakami,

N., Karasawa, M., Coe, C. L., Love, G. D., & Ryff, C. D. (2018). Culture and social hierarchy: Self-

and other-oriented correlates of socioeconomic status across cultures. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 115(3), 427–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000133

Proposal:

Subjects

I will observe US Coast Guard members stationed at an aviation unit. Their ages will range from 18 years

to mid-50s. I do not plan to focus on behavioral differences between the different age groups. My

subjects will be primarily male due to scarcity of women at this particular unit. The racial demographics

will be roughly 80% Caucasian and 20% ethnic minority (mostly Asian-American.) My primary focus will

be observing the rate at which people take snacks (bags of Skittles) from a jar that is full vs. a jar that is

nearly empty (containing 1-2 bags.) I am also interested in the level of jar emptiness that triggers self-

restraint (last-cookie-dilemma.) I expect to observe at least 30 people.

Setting:

I will set up the jar near the front desk of a medical clinic, in an area that both staff members and

patients have easy access to. This area generally has a jar of candy for people to take so I do not

anticipate anyone being off put by the display. For the first 3 days of the experiment, before anyone gets

to work, I will fill the jar to the top with bags of candy. I will count the number of bags in the jar at the
start and end of each day. For the final 3 days, I will place 2 bags of Skittles in the jar each morning. I will

count the remaining bags at the end of the day.