Brainhack

10 See Things Differently

“The more I see, the less I know for sure.”

John Lennon

How we think we see the world, is not always how it is. Here are just a few examples of some visual ways our brains are hacked.

An Uphill Battle

You would have thought when looking at a map, it would be pretty obvious to tell which place was nearer and which was farther away.

But just the language we use about locations can have an effect on how we view their geography. When we talk about going somewhere in a northerly direction we use “up”. If you live in London you'd say I'm going “up North” or “up to Scotland”. Now this may seem innocuous enough, but believe it or not, by saying “up” you unconsciously feel it's going to be uphill.

In one experiment in America, people were asked how much they thought a delivery company would charge for delivering an item between two locations. What they found, was there was a big difference depending on whether the trip was northbound or southbound. When it was a northbound trip people believed a delivery company would charge $235 more. Unconsciously, they felt the trip was “uphill” and therefore would require more effort and petrol.

A second group of people were more willing to drive to a shop located five miles south from the city centre, rather than five miles north. Again because reaching the northerly shop was thought to demand more effort than reaching the southerly shop.

We've Got Our Eyes on You

For several years the kitchen in the psychology department ...