Last Saturday, my family was deciding where to go for dinner. Before casting my vote on our 2 final options, Chick-fil-a versus Chinese food, I considered the equation we learned in class: p*B + D - C, where p represents the probability of my vote impacting the outcome. In theory, my vote should've had significant impact. There's only 9 people in my family, so a high chance that I'd be the deciding factor. However, this would assume all votes are equal. In my family, the real power player is my 6-year-old niece. Why? Because children between the ages of 4 - 9 are extremely picky eaters. My niece's diet consists of chicken nuggets, french fries, and...that's it.
Even if 5 out of 9 people voted for Chinese food, myself included, the part of me that sympathized with my sister's struggle to feed a picky eater knew there was no way we were eating Chinese food: p = 0. Add to that the high C (cost) I'd incur by voting: spending the better part of the next hour listening to a child scream about fried chicken. With no incentive to vote, I kept my mouth shut and decided to let my siblings fight it out. Then later that night, after things had reached their inevitable conclusion, I begrudgingly ate my Chick-fil-a sandwich.
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