The Sure Thing

Greetings.

Looking for an apartment has definitely been the focus in my life - the source of my largest grief. It's also opened my eyes to two important things about human nature.

The other night I went to a particularly nice place, right off Lincoln Park, with a decent layout and price range. I told the owner I'd take it. We seemed to get along just fine, and barring my credit check, I should have been fine. But he said he wanted to think it over. He had several interested people. But what's to think about? Ultimately, there's a decent person willing to hand over money to you that night. The main factors in dealing with a tenant are taken care of, but it's human nature to stall.

We are afraid to make rash decision even when we end up making them further down the line, with zero added information.

We feel like time gives us a buffer of wisdom when in fact, it does nothing. Choosing to eat an apple for lunch as soon as you want it v. ten minutes later is still the same decision, but we want to feel like we've labored over something, worked for the answer, even when the answer is right in front of us.

There was a fairly interesting psychology study done at Baylor that showed categorically that members of the opposite sex are more likely to find someone else attractive if they know its a sure thing.

Basically, the experiment was set up as such:

Thousands of surveys were taken over a several-year span by a cross section of students (age was static, obviously). Two weeks later, the control group of students was given the profiles of five members of the opposite sex that seemed to "match" and were told to rank them based on their surveys and which you'd prefer more to meet. They were told that if there was a match, phone numbers would be exchanged.

The experimental group was told the same thing. Except...they were notified of which profiles had chosen them as their top person. All they had to do was pick that individual and getting a phone number was assured. Plus, they were armed with the knowledge that the person was already interested in them.

Despite lower ratings on physical attractiveness and personality attractiveness, an overwhelming amount of people chose people who were a "sure thing".

It spreads to more than just finding a mate. There's an apartment that I'm not super-thrilled about...a little out of my price range, but at the end of the day, I'm still attracted to it because I know the landlord will rent it to me and I still don't have a place right now.

It's a sure thing. Not nearly as attractive as other places, but I know that I CAN get it.

I think it says something about our nature of being alone as well. We would rather have someone that's not as attractive as we'd like, just in order to have someone.

How many times in your life have you been attracted to something or someone and questioned why? Maybe it was because you knew they or it was in range. In "your league" or below, as it were. I know I've thought that about girls before...seeing a girl that was fair, but not the classic definition of beauty, and I thought, "I could definitely date this girl or at least get her number. She'll probably be flattered. She doesn't seem like the type that would have her number asked for that often."

It's a terrible thought. It's the same thought a cheetah has when attacking the older or weaker gazelle. Have you ever been a cheetah? Have you striven to get something just because you knew it would be easy to get? A job? An apartment? A date?