Experimental psychologists took a group of men and women, put them on stationary bikes, and had them cycle until they burned either 50 calories or more than 250 calories. Unbeknownst to them, the experimenters effectively manipulated the machines to give false readouts such that, in actuality, both groups burned the same number of calories, about 120; they just thought they had burned more or less than that. The subjects were then offered snacks ten minutes later, ostensibly to measure the “effects of exercise on taste perception and food reward.” The real purpose, however, was to covertly
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