Abstract
We argue that perception, priming, and cognition research utilize the tools of stage magic in problematic ways, engaging in what we call surprise-hacking. Surprise-hacking consists of the pre-experimental planning and staging of counterintuitive and negative results (such as blindness, bias, and irrationality). We highlight examples of surprise-hacking in the cognitive sciences, with implications for behavioral economics. For example, while Kahneman argues that priming results not made up, nor are they statistical flukes — we argue that they are, like magic, experimentally staged and conjured to produce surprising outcomes. However, unlike p-hacking, surprise-hacking will not be resolved with further replications, more data, or pre-registration. Rather, we argue that better theories are needed to understand perception, rationality, and the human mind.
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