I can be bribed with a t-shirt
In the cartoon The Pinky and the Brain, there's a episode where Brain makes a paper mache world and gets all of humanity to leave Earth for the terra non-firma by advertising free t-shirts. As Brain says, the offer of free t-shirts is "a mysterious power that no human can resist."
Methinks it is true.
Last year, I ran a half-marathon. I actually have never had a desire to run a half-marathon, but the combined pressure of a friend running with me and the lure of a "free" t-shirt (included with registration fees, of course) was amazingly persuasive. I liked the design of the t-shirt. So I caved.
More recently, this week I donated blood at my work. The blood bank gives t-shirts, juice, and cookies to all who donate. You can see where this is going. At the beginning of the week, I got an email that showed this drive's t-shirt color and design. It looked cool. So I donated. And apparently I was not the only one who thought so. The blood bank reported that usually they collect 20 units of blood per drive. This drive, so far they have collected 200; their hypothesis is either people were sympathetic to breast cancer month, or the t-shirts were really enticing. I think it's the t-shirts.
While I'm on the confession couch, I can also be bribed with chocolate. It's a susceptibility that my co-workers share; when our boss needs us to do something un-interesting such as taking a survey or completing education modules, she offers to each and every person his/her (but mostly her; let's face it: most nurses are female) favorite candy bar. The results are amazing; I heard we were the only unit to achieve 100% completion on some of these tasks.
I've been reflecting on the moral implications. I think bribery is effective only if there are no strong objections; it's most effective if the person was inclined to do it anyway, but wasn't rushed on the when. So if it's a catalyst, it isn't against the individual's moral code. I like to believe people would not run contrary to personal beliefs (which brings up the issue of why people do illegal, immoral things--apparently, their moral codes allow such things). Bribery is wrong, then, when compared to someone else's moral code. My conclusion: it would be better if we all had the same moral code. And I don't think that will happen while this earth exists. So maybe we need to make a paper mache one.
Methinks it is true.
Last year, I ran a half-marathon. I actually have never had a desire to run a half-marathon, but the combined pressure of a friend running with me and the lure of a "free" t-shirt (included with registration fees, of course) was amazingly persuasive. I liked the design of the t-shirt. So I caved.
More recently, this week I donated blood at my work. The blood bank gives t-shirts, juice, and cookies to all who donate. You can see where this is going. At the beginning of the week, I got an email that showed this drive's t-shirt color and design. It looked cool. So I donated. And apparently I was not the only one who thought so. The blood bank reported that usually they collect 20 units of blood per drive. This drive, so far they have collected 200; their hypothesis is either people were sympathetic to breast cancer month, or the t-shirts were really enticing. I think it's the t-shirts.
While I'm on the confession couch, I can also be bribed with chocolate. It's a susceptibility that my co-workers share; when our boss needs us to do something un-interesting such as taking a survey or completing education modules, she offers to each and every person his/her (but mostly her; let's face it: most nurses are female) favorite candy bar. The results are amazing; I heard we were the only unit to achieve 100% completion on some of these tasks.
I've been reflecting on the moral implications. I think bribery is effective only if there are no strong objections; it's most effective if the person was inclined to do it anyway, but wasn't rushed on the when. So if it's a catalyst, it isn't against the individual's moral code. I like to believe people would not run contrary to personal beliefs (which brings up the issue of why people do illegal, immoral things--apparently, their moral codes allow such things). Bribery is wrong, then, when compared to someone else's moral code. My conclusion: it would be better if we all had the same moral code. And I don't think that will happen while this earth exists. So maybe we need to make a paper mache one.
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