Gambling is an industry that has chance at the core of its business model. But it takes care not to leave a lot of things to chance, especially when it is about exploiting the fact that those focused on the present tend to make different choices from those focused on the future.
For instance, from the moment you enter a Las Vegas casino, you enter a timeless world of present hedonism in which the future does not exist, as Philip Zimbardo describes in ‘ The Time Paradox: Using the new psychology of time to your advantage ’ ( >www.landmarkonthenet.com ). “The temperature, lighting, and noise level remain constant twenty-four hours a day. There are no clocks and no last calls by bartenders.”
Wheels of statistics
Interestingly, behind what you see, hear and experience – ‘flashing lights, lively music, and the partial nudity of the hostesses’ which encourage customers to immerse themselves in a world of pleasure – are the number-crunchers.
The gaming industry, informs Zimbardo, is one of the world’s largest employers of statisticians. “They compute the odds of your winning at any game with the cost of the free drinks you will consume and the amount of money you are likely to lose so that no one ever beats the house over time (unless you run some scam, which, when detected, will leave you without kneecaps).”
While statisticians may not be roped in for the beating-up jobs, more serious tasks await them, though. Such as, calculating how the physical layout of a casino affects profits. If they are not making enough money, they change the décor and measure the results, notes Zimbardo. “If profit goes up, they keep the change. If it goes down, they try something else.” After years of constant experimentation, the standard guidelines are relatively well known, he adds: “such as the ‘no clocks’ rule – so that all casinos today look pretty much the same on the inside.”
Free drinks
While economists may scorn at the idea of free drinks as much as they ostensibly do of free lunches, the liquid does lubricate the gambling business in at least two ways. “First, they allow you to stay firmly planted in place, with your time perspective myopically constricted to the present. You are more likely to lose money while you are gambling than while you are waiting in line for a drink. The longer you gamble, the more the odds favour the house.”
Secondly, the alcohol in the drinks causes the customer to become further present-oriented, decreasing thus the likelihood that he will carefully consider the consequences of betting his mortgage money, the author explains. “Also, when you accept drinks gratis, you become a guest who feels obliged to your host to hang around for an anticipated dessert.”
Hungry shopper
A section titled ‘time and your physical health’ instructs that if you go grocery shopping when you are really hungry, you are likely to come home with bags full of junk food. Why so? Because the hungry conductors in the brain make you present-oriented, reasons Zimbardo. “Your stomach says, ‘I need food now! And the only thing I care about is that it tastes good!’ Everything looks good, and sweets top the list.”
What happens when you are full? Your stomach backs off and lets you think about the future, he continues. “Your brain says, ‘I’m going to eat wisely the next time I’m hungry, because I want to be skinny.’”
Does that mean, therefore, you should go shopping when you are full? Watch out, such a strategy can backfire, the author cautions. If you are too full and feel fat, you may buy only things that are exceptionally good for you, and when you get hungry again, the tofu and bean sprouts that you bought don’t look good, he argues. “You bought them because you cared about the future when you were shopping, but now that you’re hungry again, you care only about present taste. So you decide to order a pizza.”
Zimbardo suggests that to stay healthy you need both a present-hedonistic and future time perspective. “This may be why grazing is an effective diet strategy – eat small meals five times a day. You never get too hungry or too full.”
Financial freedom
If you are aiming at financial freedom, it pays to know that a hedonistic time perspective is an expensive habit, because a present-hedonistic motto is ‘if it feels good, buy it!’ As a result, the expensive ‘enthusiasm for living’ can get in the way of ‘boring activities like paying bills.’
Ruefully, however, people high in present hedonism often get stuck paying for a thing twice, the author alerts. “They pay for it once the first time, and then they pay for it again and again in credit card interest payments and late fees.” Spend some money on fun, but plan your purchases so that you can afford them and don’t end up paying for them twice, he advises. A book worth investing time in, for a detailed study.
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