Analyses were run with the following script:
T-TEST GROUPS=variety(0 1)
/MISSING=ANALYSIS
/VARIABLES=greedyR
/CRITERIA=CI(.95).
In the original study, people who took three of the same kind of cookie were considered less greedy than if they had taken one cookie of each of three different kinds. We sought to replicate this finding. Data collection started with 1500 participants randomly assigned to take the study either in the first run of 750 participants or in the second run of 750. We analyzed the data first among those who took the study as part of the first 750, then the second 750, then combined the two to analyze the full 1500.
First 750
Participants who imagined someone taking three of a variety of cookies considered them significantly less greedy (M = .968, SD = 2.652) than if they had taken three of one kind (M = 1.487, SD = 2.385, t(748) = -2.813, p < .006, d = -.205, 95%CI = -.349 to -.062). Thus, we were able to replicate the basic effect that variety attenuates judgments of greed.
Second 750
In the second set of 750 participants collected, those who imagined someone taking three of a variety of cookies again thought them significantly less greedy (M = .883, SD = 2.65) than if they had taken three of one kind (M = 1.695, SD = 2.368, t(748) = -4.425, p < .001, d = -.323, 95%CI = -.467 to -.179). Thus, we were again able to replicate the basic effect that variety attenuates judgments of greed.
Full 1500
There was no significant difference between the effect found in the first versus the second set of 750 participants collected (F (1, 1496) = 1.277, p > .258); so we combined the two into one large analysis. Unlike in the individual 750 analyses, the variance in the full 1500 showed heterogeneity between the groups, with smaller variance in the 1-kind of cookie group (FLevene = 6.244, p < .013). We therefore ran the full sample analysis considering this heterogeneity, in accordance with our pre-registration plan. Modelling this assumption does not change the results.
In this full 1500, participants who imagined someone taking three of a variety of cookies thought them significantly less greedy (M = .926, SD = 2.65) than if they had taken three of one kind of cookie (M = 1.591, SD = 2.377; t(1483.93) = -5.121, p < .001, d = -.266, 95%CI = -.368 to -.164; see Figure 1).
