A brief review of recent experimental work by T.D. Wilson ct al. on the dis
ruptive effects of deliberation provides an opportunity for extending an al
ternative interpretation of those effects first offered in this journal [D.
L. Holt (1993) Rationality is hard work: an alternative interpretation of t
he disruptive effects of thinking about reasons, Philosophical Psychology,
6, 251-266]. I therefore propose a thought experiment in which the favored
parameters of much social psychological experimentation, including the spec
ific parameters of Wilson;on ct al., are reversed.