Say no to free stuff

I just turned down free stuff. Free stuff that I want. It was a free subscription to LoveFilm for month. Just think how many films I could watch for free? All those blockbusters... All those shoot-em-ups...

So why turn it down?

 

So here's the rub. I know I have finite cognitive power (gasp). I tend to forget things. In this case, I'm fairly likely to forget to cancel the LoveFilm subscription at the end of the month. And the penalty for doing so would be the LoveFilm subscription fee for the next month leaving my bank account.

If I was rational and had an infinitely powerful brain I would get the free month's worth of films, then cancel the subscription. But if I was cognitively limited I would get the free month and then forget to cancel it, and thus have to pay for something I think is good but overpriced.

As it happens, I acted in a rational way to counteract my inherent stupidity: I ignored the deal altogether.

So there you go, a prime example of how seemingly irrational behaviour can be explained by people being aware of their limitations.