Hay on the Roof

I have read an interesting story about a smart farmer and a “stupid” cow. One day, a visitor came to the farmer’s village and saw the farmer was feeding a cow. Instead of putting the hay on the ground, the farmer placed the hay on the roof of his house, at where his cow had to work hard in order to get its food. The visitor was curious and he asked why the farmer has done so. The farmer told him that the quality of his hay was not so good that the cow might refuse eating them when it could get the hay easily. Yet, when he put the hay on the roof, that the cow had to try hard to get them, the cow would eat all of the hay quickly. 

You might laugh at that cow, because we all know that the hay are the same but the cow is more willing to eat the hay that is not easily accessible. You might find it unbelievable as well. But I am telling you now that we are very often the cow in our daily lives, will you believe it? 

Have you ever experienced that you always feel your friend’s meal look better than yours when you might have something very similar? Have you once asked your friend that why does he cheat on his girlfriend, with another girl, who, in your opinion, might not even be as pretty? Have you noticed that you would be more cautious when you spend your money that you have earned? Have you ever wondered that why your mom always prefer a Chanel handbag to an unknown brand bag even though the unknown brand bag is much cheaper and the only different between them is the Chanel logo? The key to those questions is a common reality that exists in our daily lives, which we call effort justification. 

People always believe a goal is worthwhile if they have worked hard to get there. Emma S, Gray G and other experts in psychological field have conducted an experiment about rats, which could prove the effort justification effect. In this study, sixteen male rats were given sucrose reinforcers under four conditions: a low-effort master condition, a low-effort yoked condition, a high-effort master condition, and a high-effort yoked condition. Rats were required to make 10 or 50 lever presses to receive a 60-second presentation of sucrose, when in the low-and high-effort master conditions. In the corresponding yoked conditions, rats received reinforcements at the same time as the rats in the master conditions, but did not have access to the lever. The result suggests that rats perceived the reinforcers as more palatable in the high-effort condition than in the low-effort condition. 

The experiment explains why the cow was more willing to eat the hay on the roof, too. Because of the effort justification, the cow's brain let him believed that the hay on the roof is more delicious so working hard for them is worthwhile. Similarly, the theory can be applied to explain that the reason for people always prefer things that are not so accessible to us. Although the only different between a Chanel handbag and another unknown bag is the logo, we tend to in favor of the Chanel bag because we have to work harder to get one and we probably spend more time thinking cautiously which one to get. The Chanel bag is like the hay on the roof for the cow, and the universal theory that has been applied to both of the example is our effort justification. Now can you still comment confidently on the cow saying it is stupid? 

Let’s reflecting our daily lives. Although effort justification is a common phenomenon, it is definitely worthwhile to sit back and think about effort justification in our lives. We all have dreams and goals and we are working hard for them. But at the same time, are we blind to things that we already had? Are we ignoring things that close to us? “Other’s soup/other’s dress/other’s girlfriend/boyfriend” are always better than ours, but is that really what we believe? It is always good to aim big, but meanwhile, why don't we stop chasing and looking for the hay on the roof, but halt for a minute to cherish things and people that are around us, and the life we have at the present. 

Lydall, E., Gilmour, G., & Dwyer, D. (2010). Rats place greater value on rewards produced by high effort: An animal analogue of the “effort justification” effect. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(6), 1134-1137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.05.011




[Posted by Siyu Liu]
THANKS FOR READING and Have a nice DAY!:)