Deal or No Deal (Discourse Chronicle)
Comments(2) [NBC finished its premiere week for a new game show called Deal or No Deal. Hosted by Howie Mandell, this game show features 26 numbered briefcases, each with a random amount of money placed in them by a third party. Each case contains anywhere from $.01 to $1,000,000. These cases are brought onstage by 26 gorgeous models and a contestant chooses one for him or her to keep. The object of the game is to determine which money amount is in that selected case via elimination of those other cases. Beginning with the first round, the contestant chooses 6 cases to open and each round allows one less case to open until only 1 case is left to open per round. “The Banker” watches the game from above and wants to prevent the player from taking home a lot of money, so he makes an offer for that case between rounds, prompting Mandell to ask, “Deal or No Deal?”
I am not a huge game show fan, but this one grabbed me and refused to let go. The premise is similar to a psychology experiment I participated in at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire a few years ago. I believe it went something like this: I was shown two different choices, one was a dollar amount, and the other was an object of value such as tickets to see a show. For a while, I chose dollar amounts, but there were instances when I hesitated because the object seemed more valuable. After the experiment ended, I was told that its purpose was for risk analysis and eventually choosing objects over money was common behavior.
The experiment I described and this new game show also exploit utilitarian thinking, an ethical concept from philosophy, when a person weighs a decision out critically and only chooses the most profitable option. No profit = No go (Deal or No Deal?). Complicating matters is a slippery slope or an unforeseeable outcome (“The Banker” or choosing another case). I love this concept and unfortunately, future episodes are going to be shown on CNBC Prime beginning next week. BK]
category: Life, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Television