Psychology Experiment: The Lucky Penny

Paper Summary:

A detailed account of a psychology experiment that examines the human eye using several objects such as a shiny penny and a tarnished penny. The Hypotheses: If people were presented with either a shiny penny or a tarnished penny on the ground, then more people would pick up the shiny penny rather than the tarnished penny. The human eye is naturally attracted to light as well as light movement and the shiny penny would reflect light more efficiently than the dull penny. A penny, either tarnished or shiny, would be set in a specific spot on a sidewalk and a walking tour would guide the participants of the experiment over the pennies to see which penny gets picked up the most. Conclusions: People will look at the shiny penny and pick it up. A corroded penny will reflect no light therefore people will not see it unless they are looking directly at the ground.

From the Paper:

"Walking around, place to place in this busy world, you might sometimes come across a stray, shiny penny on the ground, pick it up and say to yourself, "This is my lucky day!" or something of that nature. However, would you pick that same penny up and pocket the lucky treasure if it were tarnished, corroded, or imperfect? If people were presented with either a shiny penny or a tarnished penny on the ground, then more people would pick up the shiny penny rather than the tarnished penny. I've come up with this hypothesis because the human eye is naturally attracted to light as well as light movement and the shiny penny would reflect light more efficiently than the dull penny. In addition to this reasoning, shinier objects are more appealing to humans rather than dirty or tarnished objects."

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