Norbert Schwarz

Survey researchers have found the same thing in a quieter place, not in the wording of the question, but in the answers it offers.

In the mid 1980s, the psychologist Norbert Schwartz and his colleagues asked people how much television they watched each day.

Everyone got a list of answers to check.

For some people, the list ran in small steps and topped out at, quote, more than two and a half hours.