Getting a single random choice (e.g., of poll options) and getting a random sequence (e.g., of numbers, or coin faces, or star locations) are different tasks. Perhaps the problem isn’t that people can’t make an approximately random choice; it’s that they can’t make independent random choices. That’s why people place the stars equidistantly or avoid repetitions. Having already placed the first star, or already said “Heads”, we don’t know how to forget. The second star, the second flip, is chosen in a different mental context: not in an unmarked uniform space, but in a space that already has a star on it.
Getting a single random choice (e.g., of poll options) and getting a random sequence (e.g., of numbers, or coin faces, or star locations) are different tasks. Perhaps the problem isn’t that people can’t make an approximately random choice; it’s that they can’t make independent random choices. That’s why people place the stars equidistantly or avoid repetitions. Having already placed the first star, or already said “Heads”, we don’t know how to forget. The second star, the second flip, is chosen in a different mental context: not in an unmarked uniform space, but in a space that already has a star on it.
Well, I’m quite satisfied with that. Thank you!