RS 4: Freakonomics Podcast: "Fear thy Nature"

This blog post is my reaction on the podcast “Fear Thy Nature: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast.” This podcast appeared on the website on September 14, 2012. The podcast is about the actions people go about when they are given masks to wear in a surroundings they do not know well. Students are taken into a theatre and do many different things. When somebody is wearing a mask or "behind the curtain" they do things they normally are not comfortable or wouldn't do. They get a feeling that they are safer or comfort that they can do out of the ordinary things.For example, you do not see bank robbers running in to banks to show their faces. They wear masks because they get a feeling that they will not be caught. The same things apply to people online. Kids post things on websites or say things to other people they wouldn't say in front of their faces. Xbox live is a prime example of little kids talking crap over a mic because they know people will never see them.
 

This podcast can apply to some of the eight guideposts of economics. One that it can apply to is the test of a theory is its ability to predict. The theatre tested a theory that if you place a mask on someone, the actions they display might be different then a room of people with out masks on. The theory was proven correct by people doing things they normally would not. The experiment also can apply to the guidepost of economic actions often generate secondary effects in addition to their immediate effects. When given the mask, a persons characteristics changed from what they were previous. The mask is what is causing it.