---
title: "TrendSegments: The Good, The Bad, and Even the Ugly"
description: People are more likely to make tradeoff decisions based on what they don’t want (57%) than what they do want (43%).
image: https://i4.createsend1.com/ei/t/1B/2CA/49B/csimport/2022-12_life_cjt_plt_newsletter.081059.png
---

![](https://i4.createsend1.com/ei/t/1B/2CA/49B/csimport/2022-12_life_cjt_plt_newsletter.081059.png)

[Brendon Ellis](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/trendlines/author/brendon-ellis)2022/12/21< 1 min read

# TrendSegments: The Good, The Bad, and Even the Ugly

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Would you sacrifice all your worldly possessions to be the modern Beethoven? Would you give up the love of family and friends to be Richie Rich Jr.? What *would* you really do for a Klondike Bar? We wanted to know what burdens people would tolerate to receive a gift from life’s lottery… so, like good market researchers, we designed a [conjoint ](https://email.gradientmetrics.com/t/t-l-fftitt-jldktdjrtu-n/)experiment to quantify people’s trade-offs. Given the option of two hypothetical blessing-curse mashups, respondents selected their preferred combination.

 

**People are more likely to make decisions based on what they *don’t* want (57%) than what they do want (43%)**. Americans are most willing to have their most personal details splashed across the Internet as long as they have the comfort of a large, loving family. Aww… so wholesome, Hallmark will probably turn it into a Christmas Special. By contrast, people most definitely wouldn’t trade in their brains for brawns. Gold just isn’t worth its weight in gray matter.

 

![](https://i4.createsend1.com/ei/t/1B/2CA/49B/csimport/2022-12_life_cjt_plt_newsletter.081059.png)

![avatar](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Landing%20Page/team_photos/brendon_grayscale-1.png?width=290&name=brendon_grayscale-1.png)

[Brendon Ellis

](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/trendlines/author/brendon-ellis)Brendon earned his master’s degree in Positive Organizational Psychology & Evaluation from Claremont Graduate University and is currently pursuing his PhD in Positive Organizational Psychology. He applies his background in survey research methods on a daily basis to help clients develop instruments that measure anything from attitudes and preferences to intentions and behavior.

[mailto:brendon@gradientmetrics.com](mailto:brendon@gradientmetrics.com)

## RELATED ARTICLES

<https://www.gradientmetrics.com/trendlines/trendsegments-the-good-the-bad-and-even-the-ugly#>

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