random questions & behavioral economics...

Over the last few months, I’ve been asking random questions of friends and coworkers I talk to on a regular basis. Inspired by a friend of mine, these questions are meant to provoke a better and more stimulating conversation, with the added benefit of getting to know the other person better. What’s the point of having a 20min chat with someone when the only outcome is a deeper understanding of the weekend weather forecast?

Now these questions aren’t a means for me to pry into someone else’s life. As a matter of fact every question I ask I will answer as well and the other person can ask random questions too. These questions can range from simple surface level interests to deeper life-examining topics. A question like “what’s your favorite type of pasta?” could be followed by “what would you name your first son?”

Recently, I’ve been asked by more than a few people why I like random questions. It’s really pretty simple: I want to know people more than just favorite colors and beloved sports teams. As much as I would love to hear about what your cat coughed up this morning or the blandness of you coffee, I would much rather hear about your thoughts on the recent election or the last time you cried. Of course, this only works if both people are mutually cooperative; if one reveals significantly more than the other, then the integrity of random questions is compromised. This is why it’s important to gauge the depth of random questions by “tipping the scale” a little bit at a time; however, I believe that everybody internally wants to know that kind of stuff about the other person, but are just too embarrassed to ask. Basically, the reason we ask superficial “hey how’re you? How’s the job? How’s your weekend?” questions is that there are other questions we want to ask, but in an effort to learn about the person but trying not to offend at the same time, we settle for friendly rather than controversial, sticking with universally shared interests such as jobs and weather.

This kind of behavior can even be explained in economic terms. The set of questions in a routine conversation will usually gravitate toward ones that won’t rock the boat, essentially, a bad equilibrium. This is basically a strategy that each player in the game can adopt and converge on, but isn’t a desirable outcome for anybody. By asking random questions and rocking the boat a little bit at a time, we can shift the equilibrium to a level that is more beneficial for everyone.

So that’s pretty much it. By asking random questions that slightly challenge the norm of friendly interaction, we can circumvent the delicate balance of weather and universally shared interests and have a more mutually beneficial conversation. By the way my favorite color is orange, it’s cloudy outside and I like pepperoni, bell pepper, and pineapple pizza. There. Now we can talk about something better.

thanksgiving weekend in davis

Since I transferred to the Toronto group at work, I had to work on thanksgiving this year and spent the whole weekend in davis. This was the first time I’ve spent thanksgiving weekend in town, and I gotta say, this place gets empty. The 30k+ students have mostly fled this little town and have taken to terrorizing the bay area and parts of LA. As a matter of fact, it’s a little crazy just how empty this town gets. There was no line outside fuji’s, old teahouse was no wait, and you could study at common grounds without having to sit in somebody else’s lap. I even heard that a friend found a parking spot at the trader joe’s in the u-mall (still an unconfirmed rumor). This is nice. Davis is so much better when it’s empty. Too bad it’s Sunday and the students come back in a few minutes. Oh well…I guess I’ll just have to hold out till Christmas break.

trick-or-treat evangelism

Ok I know Halloween was like…3 weeks ago, but this thought randomly occurred to me as I was sitting in church today listening to Eugene, our missions deacon, give the monthly missions update. Recently, I’ve seen a few friends engage in evangelism right here in Davis. For example, Lynn and a few others would routinely approach random people on campus and just get their opinions regarding religion. Clare goes to the I-house regularly to talk to international students and have conversations about religion. The folks in our fellowship and our church have been seeking out different opportunities to be able to minister and share with people right here in our community. I wonder if it’s ever occurred to anybody to do a trick-or-treat ministry?

I know…a lot of churches frown on kids trick-or-treating and some frown on Halloween in general; some even set up their own carnival-style events so that their kids and parents can go participate in rather than trick-or-treat. This makes me wonder though, is it really the best approach? I mean seriously, the one day people will gladly open their doors to you, and you choose not to go?

I know…this brain-fart of an idea probably has many things that I haven’t considered yet…such as the safety of the kids (although it makes me wonder if parents are walking their kids…how different is that from any other night?) and the possibility of getting the door slammed in your face. At the same time…is it an idea worth entertaining?

voicemails and votes

Yesterday, I finally checked the nagging voicemail light blinking on my phone and as it turns out, I had a voicemail from 2 weeks ago…from Martin Sheen!! Ok ok…it was a pre-recorded message plugging a candidate whose position I disagree with, but still… now that I know he supports the guy, I might have to change my mind. After all, he was president Bartlet on West Wing…and quite a good president at that (he must’ve been… he was re-elected). I had also seen Brad Whitford and Rob Lowe pitching their candidates on national TV too. Seems like the Bartlet administration has picked its litter of folks to endorse.

Sometimes I wonder why people ask actors to endorse candidates. I know that they’re famous and have facial recognition with potential voters…but then again, so does Flava Flav. Just because someone played a politician on TV doesn’t mean they are qualified to give endorsements for candidates.

I dunno…this may just be me getting up on my soapbox making much ado about nothing, but I feel fairly passionate about this. We should be taking our cues on who to vote for from people with experience, from doing our own research, and from judging them based on their positions. Ahh heck… who am I to say anything? I’m just an ordinary Joe. If only Harrison Ford would come out and tell people to do their research before Election Day.