Dear Drs Doolittle and Ellman,
With such an intentionally provocative title I was drawn to your recent short piece, “Sarah Palin Is My Muse—And Other Lessons Learned From a Sabbatical.”1 I, like most, can behave irrationally and can engage in loss aversion, and I am delighted that your goals were accomplished.
I am keen to know more about the “stick” used to persuade you to accomplish your goals. Specifically, I am curious to know whether the aversion you associated with donating $50 relates to Sarah Palin and the National Rifle Association as political entities; or does the aversion relate to “the real and virtual mailboxes filled with solicitations and a lifelong onslaught of e-mails”; or does the aversion relate only to the amount of money lost?
In short, would you expect similar results if your stick involved a monthly donation to Elizabeth Warren and MoveOn.org?
