Poll: An exploration into poll psychology

[Condor219]

For what its worth, the fact that you tell people what you are doing will skew the results. If people just picked one, the first and last might be highest, but if you tell people what your doing, people might try to pick the one they think is least likely to be picked. It's called expectancy bias.

Factoring that in, the results are interesting. Would the poll have been the exact inverse had this been done without clear intentions? Clearly something to be tested.[small][sub]For Science![/sub][/small]

Ah, but that same expectancy bias means that the subsequent pool would be filled with people who are once again subject to the expectancy bias, and if you went to another website, then the differences in demographics and presentation would leave you with no internal validity.

(My degree is in Psychology, I can be led into a rant like this.)

Yeah, a valid scientific way to present a question like this is difficult to do. That doesn't make the answers any less interesting though; I wonder why 3 is such a popular option.

 

[Davey Woo]

As soon as I loaded up the page I was drawn to selecting the 3rd option, and it is also the highest option.

The problem with these kind of things is as soon as I see the word psychology mentioned I start to think carefully about everything I decide, which could affect the results I give for these kinds of things.

 

[PurpLemons]

Multiple choice on school exams have taught me that when in doubt, pick "C"

 

[Condor219]

As soon as I loaded up the page I was drawn to selecting the 3rd option, and it is also the highest option.

The problem with these kind of things is as soon as I see the word psychology mentioned I start to think carefully about everything I decide, which could affect the results I give for these kinds of things.

That's sorta the point with these things. You start second-guessing everything. "Alright, I'll pick 1. Wait, maybe they want me to pick 1. Alright, sure, I'll be unexpected and pick 2. BUT WAIT! Everybody's gunna think like that. I'll pick 3 to really throw them off."

And lo, 3 has been picked the most.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

It's true... Studies show that humans will instinctively pick the 3rd of 4 choices...

Everyone knows "C" is always correct!

 

[Mr Thin]

I tried to pick the least picked number, which I decreed to be 2.

And lo, I was mistaken.

I should've picked 4, I had a good feeling about 4. It spoke to me.

 

[FalloutJack]

Pick an option, any option. I'm wondering if there's a possible discrepancy between poll options for no other reason than its place on the list.

As for discussion value, what are your reactions to the current results? What are your predictions? If something like this has been done before, what happened?

Edit: Numbers taken off. Thank you, first few people, this is better. Also, dang, one certain option has a ridiculous lead. And now another has almost caught up. Perhaps due to the first statement?

You wanted to analyze the psychology of polling by holding a poll which has no content but blank choices? I'm not sure that will deliver any real results. Nothing in, nothing out. The votes have no meaning because nothing is at stake. It just is. I must ask, and no offense is intended by this, what sort of psychological reasoning do you hope to glean from this if the poll requires no thought at all? You did not even ask us our opinions of polling itself.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Woah, that's bizarre. I made this as random as possible (moved my mouse around a bit without looking at the screen) and I still ended up at the third option, the most popular by far.

 

[Anchupom]

I chose my option (3rd one down) because the end ones feel too... Closed. The second just feels like I'm going for the "safe" option.
There we have it.

LOGIC! THERE IS NONE!

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Apparently the answer is always C.

I picked D though, because it was the one I randomly clicked on first... seriously I just started clicking around and moving the mouse.

 

[Silent Anima]

1 & 4 are both equal ? Hmmmm, interesting. I picked 4 btw. I thought maybe I could be different by picking 4. Looks like I'm no different than 1 .

 

[PatSilverFox]

It won't just be place on the list.
You can see how many posts there were in certain groups already, and that can effect the choice.

 

[Condor219]

You wanted to analyze the psychology of polling by holding a poll which has no content but blank choices? I'm not sure that will deliver any real results. Nothing in, nothing out. The votes have no meaning because nothing is at stake. It just is. I must ask, and no offense is intended by this, what sort of psychological reasoning do you hope to glean from this if the poll requires no thought at all? You did not even ask us our opinions of polling itself.

Of course nothing is at stake. That's the point. What will happen when people just pick one of four options with no influence on either of the choices? I want to analyze random choice through the conduit of polling. The title was mostly a hook, but it still pertains to the topic, which is why I chose it. And I'm actually surprised at the results, showing a natural distribution. If I had asked a question and had people answered, it would have defeated the purpose of the having a poll to see where random choices would end up.

 

[Condor219]

It won't just be place on the list.
You can see how many posts there were in certain groups already, and that can effect the choice.

It seems that most posts were made about choosing option 3, and you would think that would have a negative impact on that option, right? Surprisingly not.

 

[PatSilverFox]

It won't just be place on the list.
You can see how many posts there were in certain groups already, and that can effect the choice.

It seems that most posts were made about choosing option 3, and you would think that would have a negative impact on that option, right? Surprisingly not.

No I think it would have had a positive impact on it, more people would choose it because more people had already done it.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I picked number 3, i didnt read any posts of look at the results before picking... i just kinda liked that option better xD

 

[Klarinette]

I picked the third one. The third one would be C on a multiple choice test. Is this my reason? I don't know; it was simply my first reaction.

 

[Sparrow]

I chose the top option, because I figured nobody else would choose it. I also figured three would be the top option. Huh.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I picked the third... because it was the 2nd to last option.

 

[wottabout]

I almost picked the second choice, but then I thought, "No, that's too obvious!" and switched it to the first. I also do that with regular polls, though, so I don't know whether it would skew the results or not.