Wait next to a store that has a sign "push" on its door and count the number of people who pull the door instead. I conducted this experiment on three different days for thirty minutes each. I chose Monday (the most annoying working day), Friday (last working day) and Saturday (supposedly the problem free day) and guess how the results came out to be?
All the results from the three different days matched regardless of the pressure factors that were taken into consideration. The result came out to be 85-89% of people did the wrong thing and only 11-15% of the people thought before attempting to open the door.
I said to myself: "Maybe, the sign is in English and even though you know what it means, you still have to think it so let me try a store with an Arabic sign on it "Idfaa3" (which means push in Arabic). I did exactly the same experiment and guess what the results came out to be? Amazingly 82-85% of the people did the wrong step again.
So then I had to analyze this problem and I reached the following conclusion:
We are either highly intelligent and we keep our mind extremely occupied so we do not notice small details or it is easier for us to try all possibilites rather than giving our actions a thought. Well, I don't think it is the first case and I hope it is not the second one so what is left is that there might be a flaw in my sampling process.
All the results from the three different days matched regardless of the pressure factors that were taken into consideration. The result came out to be 85-89% of people did the wrong thing and only 11-15% of the people thought before attempting to open the door.
I said to myself: "Maybe, the sign is in English and even though you know what it means, you still have to think it so let me try a store with an Arabic sign on it "Idfaa3" (which means push in Arabic). I did exactly the same experiment and guess what the results came out to be? Amazingly 82-85% of the people did the wrong step again.
So then I had to analyze this problem and I reached the following conclusion:
We are either highly intelligent and we keep our mind extremely occupied so we do not notice small details or it is easier for us to try all possibilites rather than giving our actions a thought. Well, I don't think it is the first case and I hope it is not the second one so what is left is that there might be a flaw in my sampling process.
I think it's the second one
ReplyDeleteI also think it is the second one. Let me elaborate and correct me if I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteWe are used not to pay a price for our wrong choices due to the absence of a governmental system in this country that punishes for wrong decisions as a whole. Yes, this push-pull act is not related directly but it explains a general behavior that could have been practiced on bigger scale. As a result, people find it easier to try the few options available rather than thinking for a while and acting based on their rational decisions simply because thinking is harder to do.
I think that we only use our brains if we have to. I think it is the second option too. Sadly we humans behave the same way even when we pay a price for not thinking.
ReplyDeleteI agree and this is the role of the system that forces you in different ways to behave rationally and as a result, rationality becomes part of your behavior. Then all those minor acts are fixed naturally.
ReplyDelete