A few weeks back, in my Human Development class, I learned of some pretty interesting research. In one room, people were given either a 2-digit or a 7-digit number to remember by memory. They were told they would then walk down a hall to another room to repeat the number to someone else. What they did not know was that the actual part of the study took place in the hall. They were met by another person, carrying a plate of chocolate cake in one hand and a plate of fruit in the other. The people were asked, "Would you like a this yummy plate of chocolate cake, or this healthy plate of fruit?" Almost without fail, all the people trying to remember a 2-digit number took the fruit, and all the people with the 7-digit number took the chocolate cake.
You see, we have two different brains at work: the rational brain, and the emotional brain. When you only have two things on your mind, you can make a rational choice: Calories, sugar, high fat content, think about your waistline, think about your cholesterol, it's not good for your health. But when you have 7 things on your mind, the rational brain clearly has too much to manage. So the emotional brain is much more likely to take control. It says a lot about how inadequate our reasoning is.
You can listen to the discussion on this study here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122781981
Oh deadweek. Please don't eat me alive. I think I have more than seven things on my mind.
Sometimes it's irrational how much I want a piece of fruit. It messed with my ability to remember even two digits. But seriously, that is a really interesting study.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny... what an interesting study.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I'm pretty sure I would take the lovely plate of berries and fruit over a piece of chocolate cake right now. Yum.... it's pretty!
Oh yeah...maybe I should be studying right now. ha!
Oh so true, so much going on this week! I love your blog Jenny, so fun to follow
ReplyDelete