FSB Author Article
Calorie Test
By Alexander Chernev,
Author of The Dieter's Paradox: Why Dieting Makes Us Fat
For example, if asked to indicate the calorie content of a Big
Mac, you might think that it most likely has somewhere between 300
calories (low estimate) and 600 calories (high estimate).
Your goal is to identify high and low estimates such that the
right answer falls between the two numbers you write down 90% of
the time. In other words, this means that you should get at most
one answer (10% of responses) wrong.
| Meals |
Low estimate |
High
estimate |
| Dunkin' Donuts multigrain
bagel with lite cream cheese |
||
| Chili's citrus fire chicken
and shrimp fajitas |
||
| Denny's smoked sausage
scramble |
||
| Krispy Kreme's whole wheat
glazed donut |
||
| McDonald's Quarter Pounder
(without cheese) |
||
| Panera Bread's broccoli
cheddar soup (8oz) in a sourdough soup bowl |
||
| Romano's Macaroni Grill
grilled salmon teriyaki |
||
| Ruby Tuesday's turkey
burger (with fries) |
||
| Starbucks' grande 2% white
chocolate mocha and a bran muffin with nuts |
||
| Uno Chicago Grill's classic
deep dish pizza (individual) |
Now, let's find out how you did
Answers
Dunkin' Donuts multigrain bagel with lite cream cheese: 490
Chili's citrus fire chicken and shrimp fajitas: 1,360
Denny's smoked sausage scramble: 1,480
Krispy Kreme's whole wheat glazed donut: 180
McDonald's Quarter Pounder (without cheese): 410
Panera Bread's broccoli cheddar soup (8oz) in a sourdough soup
bowl: 880
Romano's Macaroni Grill grilled salmon teriyaki: 1,230
Ruby Tuesday's turkey burger (with fries): 1,393
Starbucks' grande 2% white chocolate mocha and a bran muffin with
nuts: 900
Uno Chicago Grill's classic deep dish pizza (individual): 2,310
If you got all answers right or made only one mistake, you are
an exception. If you did not -- don't get depressed. Most people
don't. On average only half of the answers to this quiz are
correct, significantly below the 90% target.
As you might have guessed by now, this was not just a test of
your knowledge of calories but also a test of your confidence in
your own knowledge. As this quiz shows, most of us are
overconfident, thinking that we know more than we actually do.
© 2011 Alexander Chernev, author of The Dieter's Paradox: Why Dieting Makes Us Fat
Author Bio
Alexander Chernev, author of The Dieter's Paradox: Why
Dieting Makes Us Fat, is a psychologist who is
studying how people make choices. He holds two doctoral degrees: a
Ph.D. in Psychology from Sofia University and a second Ph.D. in
Business Administration from Duke University. He is a marketing
professor at Northwestern University, where he teaches behavioral
decision theory, marketing management and strategy, and consumer
research.
Dr. Chernev has won numerous awards for his teaching and research,
including the Early Career Contribution Award from the American
Psychological Association for his contribution to consumer
psychology. His research has been published in leading psychology
journals, and a recent survey ranked him as the most prolific
scholar in the top marketing journals in the past 20 years. He has
been widely quoted in the business and popular press, including Scientific
American,
Business Week, Forbes, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report,
Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los
Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Harper's
Magazine.
He is not on a diet but often adds a healthy option to his
meals.
For more information please visit http://www.dietersparadox.com/, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter