Question
Robert Gifford refers to the psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation as “dragons of inaction.” For 10 points each:
[10e] One category of dragons of inaction involves these irrecoverable investments that have already been made. A fallacy named for these investments often leads to people refusing to abandon failed ventures.
ANSWER: sunk costs [accept sunk cost fallacy]
[10h] Another dragon is this phenomenon first theorized by Jack Brehm. Reverse psychology often exploits this phenomenon, in which an individual perceives a threat to their behavioral freedom and thus resists persuasion.
ANSWER: reactance
[10m] Gifford also cites this psychologist’s work on social comparison theory. With two collaborators, this psychologist infiltrated a UFO religion called the Seekers.
ANSWER: Leon Festinger (Henry Riecken and Stanley Schachter collaborated with him on When Prophecy Fails.)
Data
| Team | Opponent | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claremont A | Brown A | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Columbia A | McGill A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Cornell A | UC Berkeley A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Cornell B | Minnesota B | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Florida A | Purdue A | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Georgia Tech A | Duke A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Imperial A | Iowa State A | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| MIT A | Florida B | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Minnesota A | Penn A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| North Carolina A | Johns Hopkins A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Ohio State A | Rutgers B | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Penn State A | Illinois A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Rutgers A | Chicago A | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Stanford A | Georgia Tech B | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Vanderbilt A | Harvard A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| WUSTL A | Indiana A | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Yale A | WUSTL B | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Yale B | Columbia B | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 |