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PROFESSOR: Good afternoon.

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Congratulations for braving it
through what's now become a

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weekly snow disaster.

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This week's maybe three
of them or something.

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My name's John Gabrieli.

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This is Introductory to
Psychology, 9.00.

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This is a course about you.

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The entire course is what do we
understand in a scientific

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way about human nature--

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how people's minds work, how
people's brains work that

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supports their mind.

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This entire course is about
what's a scientific way to

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understanding how people feel,
think, and act in the world.

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And so we're trying to say that
we constantly think you

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must in your everyday life think
about why do you have

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your preferences,
your desires?

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What's easy for you?

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What's hard for you?

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What's delightful for you?

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Why do other people behave
the way they do?

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How do they think?

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How do they feel?

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And so there's a lot of realms
of this that are tough to get

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to by science.

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But what we're going to focus on
this semester is where the

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scientific approach has shed
light in the way that we used

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to think about experiments
and evidence,

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about how humans tick.

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And as we go through this
semester, we'll talk about the

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brain, we'll talk a fair bit
about chapters from this book,

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The Man Who Mistook His Wife for
a Hat, from Oliver Sacks.

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It was a bestseller even when it
wasn't [? a ScienceWare ?]

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course.

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It's a great book.

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You'll enjoy it.

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Short, really fun chapters.

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We'll talk about how we perceive
the world; how we

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see; especially, a little bit,
how we hear; how we think; how

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we feel; personality; how we
differ from one to the other;

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and what we're sort of like;
and how we behave in the

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world; development from
childhood and infancy through

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adolescence, through young
adulthood, where you are

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mostly, through getting older,
where I am; social

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interaction, how we behave in
groups and think about other

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people; and variation in
the mental health or

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psychopathology.

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And increasingly, we understand
that there's a huge

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number of people who, at some
moment in their life or

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another, struggle with some
aspect of mental health.

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And then we'll focus a lot on,
not only the psychological

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aspects of what we study in
terms of behavior, but also

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the brain basis of that, and
think a little bit about to

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what extent the mind is what the
brain does, to what extent

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the mind is what
the brain does.

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And so for every dimension of
being a human being that we'll

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talk about, we'll also talk
about what we understand

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currently from the
neurological and

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neuroscientific literature
about how the human brain

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supports and contributes
to different

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aspects of being a person.

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OK.

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So everybody who works in a
certain field thinks that

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their field is really, really,
really special, right?

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So here's why psychology
is really,

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really, really special.

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So it's really, really special,
I think, most of all,

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because every endeavor that we
undertake at a university or

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in society as a whole--

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it's about people, right, except
for when we think about

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the rest of nature.

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But people study biology,
chemistry, and physics.

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And they think, right, that the
sun orbits the earth for

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some period of time.

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And then they think
it's the other way

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around currently, right?

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OK, so people come up with
these conclusions.

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Even though we're trying to
understand nature, it's people

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who make certain investments
in economics or behave in a

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certain way or vote
in a certain way.

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It's people who make music and
appreciate music, make art and

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appreciate art, read and write
literature, right?

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So in all these dimensions,
there's something very

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fundamental about what it is
about the human mind that

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gives birth to these areas of
inquiry and how those areas,

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domains of human experience,
are enacted.

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So my only goal today is to
try to convince you in a

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number of different ways that
we're not simple video camera

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in our minds between our ears,
recording the world in some

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objective, simple way, that
even the simplest, most

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obvious things are
interpretations of the world

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around us at many different
levels of thought and feeling

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and perception.

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And then our minds, the way
our minds are constructed,

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determines the world that we
experience, that we see, that

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we act upon.

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And even very simple things
that we think are pretty

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objective and simple, right
in front of our eyes, are

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determined by inferences and
deductions that our mind

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makes, weighing sources of
evidence in the world and

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coming to conclusions about
what's around us, what we

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hear, what we see,
and how we think.

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So let's start with seeing.

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If your vision is reasonable,
we say we see something, we

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believe it, right?

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So let's start with something
very simple--

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these lines.

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So one of the tough things about
psychology is ever since

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the Internet came into
existence, people know every

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cool thing there is
to know, right?

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OK.

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I can tell you when I began
teaching, people said, oh my

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gosh, I've never seen
such a thing.

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It's unbelievable!

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And then now, it's like two
thirds of the class is like,

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00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,640
yeah, I've got that on
my computer at home.

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We did that in third
grade or whatever.

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So all I'm saying is enjoy the
ones you haven't seen before,

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don't ruin it for your neighbors
today, because it's

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harder and harder to
surprise the world

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in a nice way, right?

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00:05:35,070 --> 00:05:37,540
OK, but let's look at these
lines for a moment here.

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And perhaps you'll have the
sense, and maybe-- is it

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glaring up there, sir?

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Let's see.

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OK, is that better?

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OK.

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Maybe not.

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So you might have the sense that
this line is a different

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length than this line.

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And this might be somewhere
intermediate, right?

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Now you know, because of
psychology, it's all a trick.

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But what's simpler than
the length of a line?

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What's more objective
in some sense than

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the length of a line?

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But if we look at the actual
lengths, they're

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all literally identical.

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But that center part
looks different.

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So what does it mean for
it to look different?

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It means our minds are
determining as simple a thing

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as how long a line is depending
on the other

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information surrounding it.

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It's an interpretation
in context.

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If we're simply looking, the
lines will look the same.

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Let's try another one.

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It's remarkable that those two
lines are identical in length.

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[LAUGHTER]

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PROFESSOR: OK, all right.

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It's OK to test the limits
of the credibility of the

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audience, right?

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All right.

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Yeah.

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Of course, if our visual system
were ludicrously off,

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we'd be constantly walking into
walls and falling out

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windows and things like that,
right, if we were

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misestimating at that length.

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So the idea where we have visual
illusions-- and I'll

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show you some more that I think
you'll be impressed by--

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it's not that our visual system
is messed up or that

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psychologists think it's
hilarious to trick us.

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It's that lots of things our
visual system is a brilliant

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at, but it's brilliant by
having certain laws or

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principles that it follows.

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And we can show this following
those principles by seeing

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that when we mess with the
typical circumstances, those

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principles calculate
the wrong answer.

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So here's another one.

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So, to most people, which line
looks bigger, the one in the

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middle or the one on the side?

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I know you know it's
all a trick, right?

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OK.

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What could be more obvious
than that this is longer?

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It's just a simple line, but if
we draw red lines on top of

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it then move them over here,
they're dead identical.

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The central circle--

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does one of them, the
middle circle, look

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larger than the other?

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Now you already know,
intellectually, that it will

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turn out those two circles in
the middle will be the same.

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But you have to convince
yourself that it still looks

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like they're different.

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Here there in red.

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Here they are next
to each other.

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They're identical.

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Again, this is evidence that,
even for a simple thing like

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the size of a circle, your mind
is making inferences.

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And there are principles and
laws that it's following that

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determine what it is you
think that you see.

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Here is two monsters
chasing each other.

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But in fact, they're
identical in size.

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The perspective cues make
the more distant

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one look much bigger.

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This is from Ted Adelson.

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This is a beautiful
demonstration of an illusion.

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Ted Adelson's in the psychology
department.

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00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:29,280
There's a letter A here.

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And believe it or not, there's
a letter B there.

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Let's see if this looks any
better when it goes like this.

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It doesn't.

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All right.

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So one of the important things
about illusions,

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00:08:38,700 --> 00:08:40,500
demonstrations in this class--
and you will learn this as we

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00:08:40,500 --> 00:08:43,010
go along-- is occasionally they
fail, and we come back

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00:08:43,010 --> 00:08:44,780
and discover what the
lesson of that is.

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So I'm just telling you
it's showing you on my

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00:08:47,110 --> 00:08:48,070
monitor much brighter.

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It always has before.

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00:08:49,910 --> 00:08:51,450
We'll adjust that.

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00:08:51,450 --> 00:08:53,060
So I'm going to skip this, but
I'll show you another time,

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00:08:53,060 --> 00:08:55,360
because it's so good.

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00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:57,060
And I'm going to feel
bad about this.

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00:08:57,060 --> 00:08:58,050
OK.

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00:08:58,050 --> 00:09:01,480
Now, let's see.

220
00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:02,730
This'll work.

221
00:09:10,690 --> 00:09:12,035
All the same shade
of grey, right?

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00:09:28,312 --> 00:09:29,780
[LAUGHTER]

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PROFESSOR: Did that work
reasonably from where you sat?

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00:09:33,070 --> 00:09:36,150
We'll try a few more.

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00:09:36,150 --> 00:09:37,400
Maybe.

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00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:42,180
For some reason,
my connection's

227
00:09:42,180 --> 00:09:43,430
always like this, sorry.

228
00:10:05,956 --> 00:10:07,940
Does that one look lighter
than that one that way?

229
00:10:07,940 --> 00:10:09,190
Yeah.

230
00:10:36,212 --> 00:10:38,000
Now they look radically
different, right?

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00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:39,870
It's the same grey constantly.

232
00:10:39,870 --> 00:10:43,720
But again, the context is hugely
determining how to

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00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:44,980
bright you see that grey.

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00:10:44,980 --> 00:10:46,230
There it is.

235
00:11:09,026 --> 00:11:11,516
Two boxes equal grey.

236
00:11:26,460 --> 00:11:29,400
So things as simple as how
bright something is or how

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long something is depend
on interpretation.

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Here's an illusion from
Roger Shepard.

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00:11:38,430 --> 00:11:39,460
It's kind of great.

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00:11:39,460 --> 00:11:40,990
So here's two kind of different

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00:11:40,990 --> 00:11:42,580
looking tables, right?

242
00:11:42,580 --> 00:11:43,840
But they're not that
different.

243
00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:45,800
And watch.

244
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:47,050
There goes one tabletop.

245
00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:59,490
You're not impressed that those
are identical tables?

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00:11:59,490 --> 00:12:00,000
OK.

247
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,250
Want me to do it again?

248
00:12:05,250 --> 00:12:08,480
That's the identical tabletop.

249
00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:10,590
To me, the one on the left looks
pretty rectangular and

250
00:12:10,590 --> 00:12:11,990
the one on the right looks
pretty square-ish.

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00:12:16,650 --> 00:12:17,880
You're not easy to
impress, are you?

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00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:23,100
[LAUGHTER]

253
00:12:23,100 --> 00:12:25,220
PROFESSOR: You see that those
two bars are moving together

254
00:12:25,220 --> 00:12:25,990
at the same time.

255
00:12:25,990 --> 00:12:28,670
Does it look like they're
little steps?

256
00:12:28,670 --> 00:12:29,890
It'll show you.

257
00:12:29,890 --> 00:12:31,140
All right, fine.

258
00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,750
It's just like that, but
now you add those bars.

259
00:12:36,750 --> 00:12:37,800
Does it look like little steps?

260
00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:44,900
[LAUGHTER]

261
00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:48,340
PROFESSOR: One more
of this kind.

262
00:12:48,340 --> 00:12:49,590
This is kind of fun.

263
00:12:56,070 --> 00:12:58,500
You see the way that the
mask is turning?

264
00:13:01,020 --> 00:13:03,920
It always looks like it's
towards you, even though I'm--

265
00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:05,480
one of the rotations-- it's
because of the way you're

266
00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,840
interpreting the light is
influencing how you

267
00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:08,890
interpreting what's--

268
00:13:08,890 --> 00:13:10,570
OK.

269
00:13:10,570 --> 00:13:15,000
So that's simply a consequence,
as far as people

270
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,030
understand that, that the source
of the illumination is

271
00:13:18,030 --> 00:13:20,790
not where you're used to, so
you're misinterpreting where

272
00:13:20,790 --> 00:13:23,120
the illumination is coming
from for the depth of the

273
00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,260
face, what's front and what's
back, whether the nose is

274
00:13:25,260 --> 00:13:26,510
sticking in or sticking out.

275
00:13:29,850 --> 00:13:31,100
OK.

276
00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:39,600
So again, the point in these
illusions is, even for very

277
00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,410
simple things our, minds make
certain assumptions about how

278
00:13:42,410 --> 00:13:44,040
we interpret the world.

279
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,230
And that drives everything that
we see and how we act

280
00:13:47,230 --> 00:13:48,640
upon what we see.

281
00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,530
So at a slightly higher
or more conceptual

282
00:13:51,530 --> 00:13:52,930
level, I need your help.

283
00:13:52,930 --> 00:13:55,040
Now, there's lots of these
things we'll do this semester

284
00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:56,610
where you get to participate.

285
00:13:56,610 --> 00:13:57,660
The fun thing about--

286
00:13:57,660 --> 00:13:59,410
I said this course was about
you-- when you could have

287
00:13:59,410 --> 00:14:00,970
thought that was a bit
rhetorical, it's not.

288
00:14:00,970 --> 00:14:03,730
It's truly about you.

289
00:14:03,730 --> 00:14:05,140
So you get to be your
own laboratory.

290
00:14:05,140 --> 00:14:07,120
We get to share a laboratory
sitting here.

291
00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,270
And what I'm going to do is ask
for you to participate.

292
00:14:09,270 --> 00:14:11,790
You don't have to do any of
these things sitting at your

293
00:14:11,790 --> 00:14:14,590
seat, but I think it's usually
fun to do them.

294
00:14:14,590 --> 00:14:17,020
So what's going to happen
is I'm going

295
00:14:17,020 --> 00:14:18,270
to show you a drawing.

296
00:14:24,490 --> 00:14:27,230
If the people to my left--

297
00:14:27,230 --> 00:14:30,850
so about in the middle, but you
can decide for yourself--

298
00:14:30,850 --> 00:14:33,920
about this way, let's have you
be Group A if you're willing

299
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:35,170
to be that way.

300
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:38,090
All right.

301
00:14:38,090 --> 00:14:39,520
Because of that, I
can't call you--

302
00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:41,930
I was going to call you guys
Group B, but I already see

303
00:14:41,930 --> 00:14:43,130
that's getting me in trouble.

304
00:14:43,130 --> 00:14:46,190
So we'll call it Group B, but
that really means equals A.

305
00:14:46,190 --> 00:14:48,070
But I'll just call it B, OK?

306
00:14:48,070 --> 00:14:50,300
So A and B, OK?

307
00:14:50,300 --> 00:14:53,741
So what I need is Group B--

308
00:14:53,741 --> 00:14:56,500
B for best, A for awesome, OK.

309
00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:58,132
[LAUGHTER]

310
00:14:58,132 --> 00:15:01,860
PROFESSOR: --Group B to close
your eyes for a moment.

311
00:15:01,860 --> 00:15:04,320
Group B, if you want to have fun
with this, close your eyes

312
00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:05,010
for a moment.

313
00:15:05,010 --> 00:15:06,930
Group A, you're gonna see some
instructions, and read them

314
00:15:06,930 --> 00:15:08,180
silently to yourself.

315
00:15:11,130 --> 00:15:14,155
And then I'll ask you a question
about the picture.

316
00:15:14,155 --> 00:15:15,670
OK, Group A, you're
now reading.

317
00:15:15,670 --> 00:15:16,680
Group B has your eyes closed.

318
00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,210
So read the instructions
silently to yourself.

319
00:15:25,740 --> 00:15:26,680
OK?

320
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,340
Now Group A, close your eyes.

321
00:15:28,340 --> 00:15:29,520
Everybody has their eyes
closed for a moment.

322
00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:30,720
Everybody has their
eyes closed.

323
00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,105
Now Group B, look at
your instructions.

324
00:15:33,105 --> 00:15:36,665
So A has their eyes closed,
B is reading instructions.

325
00:15:41,130 --> 00:15:42,990
OK?

326
00:15:42,990 --> 00:15:44,630
Everybody's eyes are open now.

327
00:15:44,630 --> 00:15:45,570
Everybody's eyes are open.

328
00:15:45,570 --> 00:15:48,270
Here's your picture.

329
00:15:48,270 --> 00:15:49,190
Take it in and I'm going
to ask you a few

330
00:15:49,190 --> 00:15:49,740
questions about it.

331
00:15:49,740 --> 00:15:51,370
Look at it for a moment
and inspect it.

332
00:15:51,370 --> 00:15:53,120
OK, here we go, ready?

333
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,820
So just out loud--

334
00:15:55,820 --> 00:15:57,760
was there an automobile
in the picture?

335
00:15:57,760 --> 00:15:58,526
AUDIENCE: No.

336
00:15:58,526 --> 00:15:58,910
PROFESSOR: OK.

337
00:15:58,910 --> 00:16:00,140
See, this is a smart class.

338
00:16:00,140 --> 00:16:02,850
We're gonna have a--

339
00:16:02,850 --> 00:16:04,460
Was there a man in
the picture?

340
00:16:04,460 --> 00:16:05,550
AUDIENCE: Yes.

341
00:16:05,550 --> 00:16:07,020
PROFESSOR: Was there a
woman in the picture?

342
00:16:07,020 --> 00:16:07,425
AUDIENCE: Yes.

343
00:16:07,425 --> 00:16:08,140
AUDIENCE: No.

344
00:16:08,140 --> 00:16:09,320
PROFESSOR: OK.

345
00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,477
This side again, woman
in the picture?

346
00:16:11,477 --> 00:16:12,820
AUDIENCE: No.

347
00:16:12,820 --> 00:16:14,070
PROFESSOR: All right,
all right.

348
00:16:16,570 --> 00:16:17,590
OK, a child?

349
00:16:17,590 --> 00:16:19,400
AUDIENCE: No.

350
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:20,460
PROFESSOR: An animal?

351
00:16:20,460 --> 00:16:20,950
AUDIENCE: No.

352
00:16:20,950 --> 00:16:21,930
AUDIENCE: Yes.

353
00:16:21,930 --> 00:16:22,420
PROFESSOR: Ah.

354
00:16:22,420 --> 00:16:23,180
OK.

355
00:16:23,180 --> 00:16:26,110
And now it gets a little wild.

356
00:16:26,110 --> 00:16:26,700
OK?

357
00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:27,790
A whip?

358
00:16:27,790 --> 00:16:28,280
AUDIENCE: Yes.

359
00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:29,280
PROFESSOR: OK.

360
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:30,200
A sword?

361
00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:31,360
AUDIENCE: Yes.

362
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:32,880
PROFESSOR: All right,
a man's hat?

363
00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:33,410
AUDIENCE: Yes.

364
00:16:33,410 --> 00:16:33,860
PROFESSOR: A ball?

365
00:16:33,860 --> 00:16:34,220
AUDIENCE: Yes.

366
00:16:34,220 --> 00:16:34,950
AUDIENCE: No.

367
00:16:34,950 --> 00:16:35,970
PROFESSOR: A fish?

368
00:16:35,970 --> 00:16:36,420
AUDIENCE: Yes.

369
00:16:36,420 --> 00:16:38,030
PROFESSOR: All right, so
there's disagreement.

370
00:16:38,030 --> 00:16:39,090
And that's--

371
00:16:39,090 --> 00:16:40,740
we're a democracy, right?

372
00:16:40,740 --> 00:16:43,310
So all these things are
big setups, right?

373
00:16:43,310 --> 00:16:45,470
So here's what happened.

374
00:16:45,470 --> 00:16:48,000
Group A was told they were gonna
look at a picture of a

375
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,160
trained seal act.

376
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,370
And Group B got the identical
instructions, but they were

377
00:16:53,370 --> 00:16:55,330
told you're gonna look
at a costume ball.

378
00:16:55,330 --> 00:16:59,000
So you had an expectation of
what you were going to see.

379
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,410
That expectation drives your
interpretation of the very

380
00:17:02,410 --> 00:17:05,398
thing you see next, which
is this picture.

381
00:17:05,398 --> 00:17:05,882
OK?

382
00:17:05,882 --> 00:17:06,850
[LAUGHTER]

383
00:17:06,850 --> 00:17:18,490
[CHATTER]

384
00:17:18,490 --> 00:17:20,530
PROFESSOR: OK, is
that all right?

385
00:17:20,530 --> 00:17:22,752
All right.

386
00:17:22,752 --> 00:17:25,000
And this is just
for fun, right?

387
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:25,640
It's a set up.

388
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:27,619
You're participating nicely.

389
00:17:27,619 --> 00:17:32,530
But in the world, when groups
that are arguing with each

390
00:17:32,530 --> 00:17:36,500
other about things like peace
settlements, read a document,

391
00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:39,690
or make a statement, how much
do you think the perspective

392
00:17:39,690 --> 00:17:42,680
they start with guides the
interpretation of what they

393
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:44,950
read or what they hear?

394
00:17:44,950 --> 00:17:46,510
Because you didn't have
big stakes in this.

395
00:17:46,510 --> 00:17:49,200
You weren't going, I believe in
fish and if I don't see a

396
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,060
fish, I know things aren't just
and my group will be not

397
00:17:53,060 --> 00:17:54,640
treated fairly.

398
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,280
You're not emotionally invested
in, probably, whether

399
00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:58,960
there was a fish present.

400
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:04,360
So your interpretation, your
beliefs guide tremendously

401
00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:07,210
what you think you see and how
you interpret the situation--

402
00:18:07,210 --> 00:18:09,330
for complicated things
or even easy things

403
00:18:09,330 --> 00:18:11,090
like lines or squares.

404
00:18:11,090 --> 00:18:13,160
And here's another kind of an
example where you would

405
00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,135
interpret that as a
B for "baker" or

406
00:18:16,135 --> 00:18:17,070
13 if it's in numbers.

407
00:18:17,070 --> 00:18:21,700
Again, the context is driving
a lot of the interpretation.

408
00:18:21,700 --> 00:18:22,900
OK.

409
00:18:22,900 --> 00:18:27,620
Now this is one of those
examples that, again, when--

410
00:18:27,620 --> 00:18:30,710
some number of years ago,
it was a huge hit.

411
00:18:30,710 --> 00:18:32,690
And now, mostly people say,
can't you come up with

412
00:18:32,690 --> 00:18:33,790
something better
that we haven't

413
00:18:33,790 --> 00:18:35,590
all seen on the internet?

414
00:18:35,590 --> 00:18:39,560
So if you know this, don't
ruin it for the other

415
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:40,810
individuals.

416
00:18:42,790 --> 00:18:48,570
But what I need is a
few volunteers--

417
00:18:48,570 --> 00:18:50,620
you'll be facing me
this way-- who are

418
00:18:50,620 --> 00:18:54,070
willing to count something.

419
00:18:54,070 --> 00:18:56,310
And it's MIT, we're pretty
good at counting.

420
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,080
So what's the message of that?

421
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:12,380
The message is--

422
00:19:12,380 --> 00:19:14,930
we've talked about what we
perceive, what we see by

423
00:19:14,930 --> 00:19:16,650
expectations in context.

424
00:19:16,650 --> 00:19:19,860
But it's also we have very
limited what psychologists

425
00:19:19,860 --> 00:19:21,310
call attentional resources.

426
00:19:21,310 --> 00:19:23,960
We can pay attention
to a limited number

427
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:25,240
of things at a time.

428
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,040
And even when those things can
be right in front of us, if

429
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,170
our attention is focused or
occupied by something else,

430
00:19:31,170 --> 00:19:34,400
like counting the passes
in a difficult scene--

431
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,060
it wouldn't work if there was
one or two passes only,

432
00:19:38,060 --> 00:19:39,400
because you would notice it.

433
00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:42,610
But when your mind is focused on
identifying all the passes

434
00:19:42,610 --> 00:19:44,065
among the players-- and the
white shirts are moving,

435
00:19:44,065 --> 00:19:47,360
they're weaving with the other
players and so on--

436
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:50,920
then your attention is absorbed
by that, and some of

437
00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,390
it is not left over to notice
what's right in front of you.

438
00:19:53,390 --> 00:19:54,750
And we'll talk more
about that.

439
00:19:54,750 --> 00:19:57,650
But it's a huge thing with
humans that we can pay

440
00:19:57,650 --> 00:20:00,550
attention pretty well, on
average, to a thing at a time

441
00:20:00,550 --> 00:20:01,980
under many circumstances.

442
00:20:01,980 --> 00:20:05,340
And the other things escape us
completely, even if they're

443
00:20:05,340 --> 00:20:07,830
obviously present if we were
looking at them or paying

444
00:20:07,830 --> 00:20:09,470
attention to them.

445
00:20:09,470 --> 00:20:13,490
So here's another example of how
our minds make our world--

446
00:20:13,490 --> 00:20:15,880
what we see and what we don't
see, what we pay attention to

447
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:17,710
and what we don't pay
attention to.

448
00:20:17,710 --> 00:20:20,695
And that's something to
do with how we hear.

449
00:20:31,740 --> 00:20:33,330
OK, so I'm going
to replay this.

450
00:20:39,990 --> 00:20:42,980
So listen to what the
guy is saying.

451
00:20:42,980 --> 00:20:44,730
Take a look, and
just tell he--

452
00:20:44,730 --> 00:20:47,360
he's saying some letters,
OK, just not a word.

453
00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:48,610
What is it?

454
00:20:53,690 --> 00:20:58,990
OK, most people think he's
saying "da." "Da da, da da, da

455
00:20:58,990 --> 00:21:01,490
da." Now let's try that again.

456
00:21:01,490 --> 00:21:04,520
I'm going to turn off the
sound and I'm going to

457
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:05,770
run the same film.

458
00:21:09,874 --> 00:21:12,330
What does his mouth look
like it's saying?

459
00:21:12,330 --> 00:21:13,960
"Ga ga." OK?

460
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:18,250
But now we'll do one more thing,
which is turn the sound

461
00:21:18,250 --> 00:21:21,950
back on, have you close
your eyes, and listen

462
00:21:21,950 --> 00:21:23,200
to what he's saying.

463
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:28,310
What's he saying?

464
00:21:28,310 --> 00:21:29,030
AUDIENCE: "Ba."

465
00:21:29,030 --> 00:21:29,950
PROFESSOR: Yeah.

466
00:21:29,950 --> 00:21:33,220
So it doesn't work for
everybody every time.

467
00:21:33,220 --> 00:21:37,010
But the basic idea is most
people think they hear the

468
00:21:37,010 --> 00:21:40,160
word "da" coming from
the speaker.

469
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,840
And in fact, in their mind they
do because that's how

470
00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:44,530
they interpret what
they're hearing.

471
00:21:44,530 --> 00:21:47,910
But in reality, the film clip
is a film clip of the person

472
00:21:47,910 --> 00:21:53,120
saying "ba ba ba." And then an
audio recording of the person

473
00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:58,650
saying "ga ga ga." Your mind
intertwines across modalities

474
00:21:58,650 --> 00:22:02,380
what you hear and what you see,
integrates them in some

475
00:22:02,380 --> 00:22:03,820
way below your level
of consciousness.

476
00:22:03,820 --> 00:22:05,510
You're not thinking about it.

477
00:22:05,510 --> 00:22:07,690
And you come up with a different
interpretation of

478
00:22:07,690 --> 00:22:09,370
what you hear.

479
00:22:09,370 --> 00:22:09,880
Right?

480
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,130
So what you see would
be this one thing.

481
00:22:12,130 --> 00:22:13,240
What you hear is
another thing.

482
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,200
When your eyes are open and your
ears are open, they meld

483
00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:17,660
together and produce
something--

484
00:22:17,660 --> 00:22:19,250
a third thing that's
entirely different.

485
00:22:19,250 --> 00:22:23,100
Again, your mind interpreted
what you hear, not your ear

486
00:22:23,100 --> 00:22:26,380
interpreting what you hear,
in a simple sense.

487
00:22:26,380 --> 00:22:27,390
OK.

488
00:22:27,390 --> 00:22:29,520
How about things that we know?

489
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:30,910
So let's think about this.

490
00:22:30,910 --> 00:22:34,020
If somebody were to ask you
which is farther east, closer

491
00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:35,840
to the Atlantic--

492
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:40,210
San Diego, California,
or Reno, Nevada?

493
00:22:40,210 --> 00:22:43,330
Who likes San Diego as
being farther east?

494
00:22:43,330 --> 00:22:44,190
A few hands.

495
00:22:44,190 --> 00:22:46,470
Who likes Reno as being
farther east?

496
00:22:46,470 --> 00:22:47,350
OK.

497
00:22:47,350 --> 00:22:52,680
So, here's the mental map most
people have-- the mental map--

498
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,320
which is we know California's
right next to the ocean with

499
00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,760
Arnold Schwarzenegger protecting
us on that side of

500
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:00,800
the country, right?

501
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:05,020
And then Nevada's a little bit
more towards Boston, right?

502
00:23:05,020 --> 00:23:05,570
OK.

503
00:23:05,570 --> 00:23:07,280
That's a mental map that
most people have.

504
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:08,330
And that's how the
hands went up.

505
00:23:08,330 --> 00:23:09,870
This is the actual map.

506
00:23:09,870 --> 00:23:13,440
And the only actual map you've
ever seen, ever-- on a globe,

507
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:14,680
on a map, anything.

508
00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,340
Because California takes a big
turn on the south, San Diego's

509
00:23:18,340 --> 00:23:20,890
further east than Reno.

510
00:23:20,890 --> 00:23:25,610
Why do we imagine, and most
people do, that Reno is

511
00:23:25,610 --> 00:23:31,000
further east, when you've never
seen a map or globe

512
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:31,700
that's shown you that?

513
00:23:31,700 --> 00:23:34,490
Never ever, ever.

514
00:23:34,490 --> 00:23:35,740
Yeah.

515
00:23:38,050 --> 00:23:40,040
PROFESSOR: Because it's farther
from the ocean,

516
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:43,120
because in our mind we go,
California's way out there.

517
00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:44,240
There's nothing--

518
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,840
Hawaii is the only one out there
further west, right?

519
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,480
So our mind makes this
answer despite that.

520
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,610
And that's what we think
we might know.

521
00:23:53,610 --> 00:23:54,990
Now, we might not be
totally certain.

522
00:23:54,990 --> 00:23:57,960
We might not bet the
farm on that.

523
00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,360
Which is farther north--

524
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:01,820
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
or Rome, Italy?

525
00:24:01,820 --> 00:24:03,600
So start to think-- how would
you think about that?

526
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:04,610
It's not something you know.

527
00:24:04,610 --> 00:24:06,000
Nobody memorizes it, right?

528
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,200
But how would you begin
to think which is

529
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,300
probably more northern?

530
00:24:10,300 --> 00:24:11,020
What's your first gut?

531
00:24:11,020 --> 00:24:15,210
How many people like
Philadelphia being more north?

532
00:24:15,210 --> 00:24:16,740
How many people like Rome
being more north?

533
00:24:16,740 --> 00:24:19,210
There's kind of a mixture
of hands.

534
00:24:19,210 --> 00:24:25,650
The answer is that Rome is
north of Philadelphia.

535
00:24:25,650 --> 00:24:28,510
Mostly people will answer that
Philadelphia is north.

536
00:24:28,510 --> 00:24:31,830
Why they do that is they think
the US and Europe, they're

537
00:24:31,830 --> 00:24:34,420
both sort of above the equator,
below Antarctica,

538
00:24:34,420 --> 00:24:38,430
kind of a aligned, even
historically, culturally.

539
00:24:38,430 --> 00:24:40,840
So they think, well, Rome is
pretty south in Europe.

540
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:41,220
And it is.

541
00:24:41,220 --> 00:24:42,240
It's in Italy.

542
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,440
Philadelphia's reasonably
north in the US.

543
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,230
It gets winters and all
that kinds of stuff.

544
00:24:46,230 --> 00:24:50,190
So a northern city in the US
has got to be north of a

545
00:24:50,190 --> 00:24:51,840
southern city in Europe.

546
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,680
But in fact, Europe is-- the
whole continent is shifted up

547
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:56,270
compared to the US.

548
00:24:56,270 --> 00:24:58,720
So you won't-- wait until get
your mind around this.

549
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:00,345
Which is further north,
Atlanta or Chicago?

550
00:25:02,990 --> 00:25:04,870
[LAUGHTER]

551
00:25:04,870 --> 00:25:06,023
PROFESSOR: All right,
all right.

552
00:25:06,023 --> 00:25:06,930
Sorry.

553
00:25:06,930 --> 00:25:08,180
It's sort of a joke.

554
00:25:10,670 --> 00:25:12,170
Because sometimes when you do
this, people go like, wait a

555
00:25:12,170 --> 00:25:13,850
minute, all my assumptions
are off.

556
00:25:13,850 --> 00:25:14,840
Like, where am I?

557
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:15,440
What's reality?

558
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:16,670
[LAUGHTER]

559
00:25:16,670 --> 00:25:18,580
PROFESSOR: OK.

560
00:25:18,580 --> 00:25:20,220
Here's one more-- two more.

561
00:25:20,220 --> 00:25:22,490
Which is further north,
Portland or Toronto?

562
00:25:22,490 --> 00:25:24,570
Now you are already learning
the lesson go opposite.

563
00:25:24,570 --> 00:25:26,180
Whatever I thought, go
opposite, right?

564
00:25:26,180 --> 00:25:29,100
But why do you think most
people will answer that

565
00:25:29,100 --> 00:25:31,400
Toronto is further north?

566
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,560
Canada is up there, US is
below it, but in fact--

567
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:35,980
that's the mental map
in the colors.

568
00:25:35,980 --> 00:25:38,272
But in fact, Portland
in Oregon is

569
00:25:38,272 --> 00:25:40,720
actually north of Toronto.

570
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:42,420
We'll do one last one.

571
00:25:42,420 --> 00:25:44,250
Which is further west?

572
00:25:44,250 --> 00:25:46,780
Which is further west, Miami,
Florida-- which that's all the

573
00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:49,020
way towards the Atlantic
Ocean--

574
00:25:49,020 --> 00:25:51,910
or Santiago, Chili-- which is
towards the Pacific Ocean.

575
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:55,820
Further west.

576
00:25:55,820 --> 00:25:58,260
So most people have a mental
map that North America and

577
00:25:58,260 --> 00:26:01,170
South America are kind of
lined up like that.

578
00:26:01,170 --> 00:26:04,890
And so you say well, Miami is
further east and Santiago's

579
00:26:04,890 --> 00:26:05,540
farther west.

580
00:26:05,540 --> 00:26:08,830
But in fact, South America is
fairly shifted compared to

581
00:26:08,830 --> 00:26:10,020
North America.

582
00:26:10,020 --> 00:26:14,140
And Santiago is actually more
eastern or Miami is more

583
00:26:14,140 --> 00:26:16,750
western, one relative
to the other.

584
00:26:16,750 --> 00:26:18,750
Because in our head, we kind
of think, North and South

585
00:26:18,750 --> 00:26:21,660
America-- they're kind of lined
up even though we never

586
00:26:21,660 --> 00:26:23,060
saw a global map like that.

587
00:26:23,060 --> 00:26:27,410
So again, some of our knowledge
guides how we think

588
00:26:27,410 --> 00:26:28,870
about the world and what
we believe we know.

589
00:26:36,270 --> 00:26:38,740
So what's the point of this?

590
00:26:38,740 --> 00:26:41,290
It's what used to be called
telephone, right?

591
00:26:41,290 --> 00:26:42,630
Their story keeps changing.

592
00:26:42,630 --> 00:26:45,510
And it's hard to remember
details in a story.

593
00:26:45,510 --> 00:26:48,040
People remember a nugget, or
what we call a gist in

594
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:49,980
psychology, a little point.

595
00:26:49,980 --> 00:26:54,440
And second, what you take as a
point is how you then tell the

596
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,140
next person, the way you
interpret the story,

597
00:26:57,140 --> 00:26:57,720
something like that.

598
00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,494
Thanks very much,
that was good.

599
00:26:59,494 --> 00:27:02,840
[APPLAUSE]

600
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:07,560
PROFESSOR: Again, two things--
our memory for precise details

601
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,200
is surprisingly modest.

602
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,970
And how we interpret things
matter changes things a lot.

603
00:27:13,970 --> 00:27:17,870
So now, you had four brave
students demonstrating some of

604
00:27:17,870 --> 00:27:19,430
the limits and properties
of memory.

605
00:27:19,430 --> 00:27:21,640
So now, here's an exercise you
can do in your own seat.

606
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,280
OK, you're just knowing
yourself how you

607
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,050
did, but here we go.

608
00:27:26,050 --> 00:27:28,115
I'm going to read
you some words.

609
00:27:30,650 --> 00:27:32,880
And then just give you-- don't
have to write anything down.

610
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,990
If you write it down,
it's no good.

611
00:27:35,990 --> 00:27:39,420
And then I'm going to ask you on
a recognition test, whether

612
00:27:39,420 --> 00:27:40,480
you heard a word or not.

613
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:41,860
Ready?

614
00:27:41,860 --> 00:27:42,830
So here's the list.

615
00:27:42,830 --> 00:27:44,540
So just listen and then
I'll test your memory

616
00:27:44,540 --> 00:27:46,540
for it right after.

617
00:27:46,540 --> 00:27:47,780
Here's the list.

618
00:27:47,780 --> 00:27:56,260
Sour, candy, sugar, bitter,
good, taste, tooth, nice,

619
00:27:56,260 --> 00:28:04,460
honey, soda, chocolate, heart,
cake, tart, pie.

620
00:28:04,460 --> 00:28:05,880
OK?

621
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:07,350
All right, how many
people heard the

622
00:28:07,350 --> 00:28:08,800
word "sour?" All right.

623
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:10,150
Yeah, excellent, thank you.

624
00:28:10,150 --> 00:28:14,050
"Chair." "Candy." Hey.

625
00:28:14,050 --> 00:28:19,740
"Honey." "Building." "Sweet."
Every hand up there, you have

626
00:28:19,740 --> 00:28:20,920
a false memory.

627
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:22,380
[LAUGHTER]

628
00:28:22,380 --> 00:28:24,670
PROFESSOR: Now, it's
a set up OK?

629
00:28:24,670 --> 00:28:27,350
Because here's the way they make
these lists, it's a set

630
00:28:27,350 --> 00:28:28,790
up, but there's a huge lesson.

631
00:28:28,790 --> 00:28:31,350
And in fact, you may hear
debates about what are real

632
00:28:31,350 --> 00:28:34,710
memories, what are false
memories, in court cases, in

633
00:28:34,710 --> 00:28:36,530
clinical cases.

634
00:28:36,530 --> 00:28:38,880
This is a laboratory experiment
that's been the

635
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,950
testing ground for lots of ideas
about how we make real

636
00:28:41,950 --> 00:28:44,450
memories and how we end up
with false memories.

637
00:28:44,450 --> 00:28:46,330
So here's the way they
made the list.

638
00:28:46,330 --> 00:28:49,310
They took the word "sour." And
they took a lot of students

639
00:28:49,310 --> 00:28:51,430
basically like you and said,
what's the first word you

640
00:28:51,430 --> 00:28:53,000
think of that goes with sour?

641
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:54,820
And people came up with
this kind of a list.

642
00:28:54,820 --> 00:28:59,490
Candy, sugar, bitter, good,
taste, tooth, nice, honey,

643
00:28:59,490 --> 00:29:02,160
soda, chocolate, heart,
cake, tart, pie.

644
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,710
But they left out one
word that people

645
00:29:04,710 --> 00:29:06,380
came up with a lot.

646
00:29:06,380 --> 00:29:08,470
The word "sweet." OK?

647
00:29:08,470 --> 00:29:10,780
So your mind interpreted
the list.

648
00:29:10,780 --> 00:29:13,760
You said, hey, this is all about
things that are related

649
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,690
to sweet things in one way or
another-- sweet sugar, sweet

650
00:29:17,690 --> 00:29:22,760
candy, sweet and sour, honey is
sweet, chocolate is sweet.

651
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:28,520
So your mind imagined it heard
the word "sweet." And the

652
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,320
majority of you put your hand up
that you actually heard the

653
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,520
word "sweet." Your mind imagined
it was there because

654
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,420
that was generally what
was going on.

655
00:29:36,420 --> 00:29:38,760
That was the gist of
the experience, OK?

656
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,550
So this idea is it's very
easy, because of the way

657
00:29:42,550 --> 00:29:45,680
memory works, we remember the
gist of things because that's

658
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:46,750
what's the important part.

659
00:29:46,750 --> 00:29:48,850
It's hard to remember
the details.

660
00:29:48,850 --> 00:29:51,330
But that gist is an
interpreted gist.

661
00:29:51,330 --> 00:29:53,350
The gist was it's
sweet things.

662
00:29:53,350 --> 00:29:55,730
So the word "sweet" feels like
it was part of the memory.

663
00:29:55,730 --> 00:29:58,740
And we'll come back to that
later on in the course.

664
00:29:58,740 --> 00:30:02,410
So one of the themes we'll talk
about a lot in the course

665
00:30:02,410 --> 00:30:05,280
is both an amazing power of the
human mind and an amazing

666
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:06,770
peril of the human mind.

667
00:30:06,770 --> 00:30:09,250
And it's what psychologists
call automaticity.

668
00:30:09,250 --> 00:30:12,430
It's that our mind, in order
to be efficient and quick,

669
00:30:12,430 --> 00:30:14,940
does things automatically
without thought, without

670
00:30:14,940 --> 00:30:15,860
consciousness.

671
00:30:15,860 --> 00:30:18,470
It lets us walk without
thinking a lot about

672
00:30:18,470 --> 00:30:19,220
where our feet are.

673
00:30:19,220 --> 00:30:22,230
It lets us speak quickly without
thinking about the

674
00:30:22,230 --> 00:30:24,180
syntax and the vocabulary,
right?

675
00:30:24,180 --> 00:30:27,700
It lets us do a lot of things.

676
00:30:27,700 --> 00:30:28,690
So that's the power of it.

677
00:30:28,690 --> 00:30:31,940
The peril is when something
becomes automatic, we lose

678
00:30:31,940 --> 00:30:35,460
control of it within
ourselves.

679
00:30:35,460 --> 00:30:38,460
So I need somebody at their
seat who's willing to read

680
00:30:38,460 --> 00:30:40,380
aloud something as fast as they
can when they see it on

681
00:30:40,380 --> 00:30:42,170
the computer monitor.

682
00:30:42,170 --> 00:30:45,800
If I can get a volunteer
at your seat.

683
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:47,050
OK, all the way back
there, OK.

684
00:30:47,050 --> 00:30:48,490
And then I'll come to you
for the second one.

685
00:30:48,490 --> 00:30:48,800
Ready?

686
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,570
Here it comes.

687
00:30:50,570 --> 00:30:51,990
As fast as you can, go.

688
00:30:51,990 --> 00:30:53,360
AUDIENCE: One way
not do enter.

689
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:54,340
PROFESSOR: OK, then,
you got it.

690
00:30:54,340 --> 00:30:54,840
I couldn't trick you.

691
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:56,680
OK.

692
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,060
But you might imagine a person
might mistake that, right?

693
00:30:59,060 --> 00:31:00,410
Was there another one?

694
00:31:00,410 --> 00:31:00,650
Was it you?

695
00:31:00,650 --> 00:31:01,300
OK, ready?

696
00:31:01,300 --> 00:31:01,820
Here we go.

697
00:31:01,820 --> 00:31:02,770
Go.

698
00:31:02,770 --> 00:31:03,744
AUDIENCE: Paris in spring.

699
00:31:03,744 --> 00:31:04,231
PROFESSOR: Ah.

700
00:31:04,231 --> 00:31:06,179
I got you on that.

701
00:31:06,179 --> 00:31:10,440
[LAUGHTER]

702
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,590
PROFESSOR: Because your mind
is automatically reading.

703
00:31:12,590 --> 00:31:15,160
We have lots of evidence in
psychology that you're barely

704
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,000
looking at words like
"the." You're

705
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:18,380
assuming over those things.

706
00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:20,680
They're almost invisible to you
there even though they're

707
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:22,830
physically present, because your
mind is looking for the

708
00:31:22,830 --> 00:31:24,040
big content, right?

709
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,800
Who cares about the word "the?"
Your mind is going for

710
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,990
the essential information, and
it becomes literally blind to

711
00:31:29,990 --> 00:31:31,680
what's in front of you, because
it knows what it's

712
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:33,800
looking for.

713
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:34,650
Here's a fun one.

714
00:31:34,650 --> 00:31:35,990
You've seen things like
this before, but it's

715
00:31:35,990 --> 00:31:36,850
always fun to try.

716
00:31:36,850 --> 00:31:38,870
It's the same principle.

717
00:31:38,870 --> 00:31:40,990
How many letter F's do you
find in this display?

718
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,312
Can I get some numbers?

719
00:32:00,312 --> 00:32:00,748
AUDIENCE: 6.

720
00:32:00,748 --> 00:32:01,184
AUDIENCE: 4.

721
00:32:01,184 --> 00:32:01,620
AUDIENCE: 5.

722
00:32:01,620 --> 00:32:02,870
PROFESSOR: 4, 5, 6.

723
00:32:02,870 --> 00:32:04,830
Those are all good.

724
00:32:04,830 --> 00:32:06,080
We're not an exact science.

725
00:32:11,049 --> 00:32:18,790
[CLAMORING]

726
00:32:18,790 --> 00:32:21,320
PROFESSOR: Some of you may have
missed one or two F's.

727
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,805
Again, it's because your
mind is automatically--

728
00:32:27,650 --> 00:32:29,610
typical readers read at
spectacular speeds.

729
00:32:29,610 --> 00:32:32,140
And the way you read at a
spectacular speed is you don't

730
00:32:32,140 --> 00:32:33,160
look for little details.

731
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,570
You get the big words and the
big ideas and you zoom through

732
00:32:35,570 --> 00:32:37,050
for the big meaning.

733
00:32:37,050 --> 00:32:39,060
And you're leaving behind what
you consider to be details.

734
00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:39,470
Yeah.

735
00:32:39,470 --> 00:32:41,770
AUDIENCE: So if you ask this
question to a society that

736
00:32:41,770 --> 00:32:43,504
pronounces "of" just
like "off,"

737
00:32:43,504 --> 00:32:46,290
would that change anything?

738
00:32:46,290 --> 00:32:48,970
PROFESSOR: The question was if
we asked a society that didn't

739
00:32:48,970 --> 00:32:50,610
pronounce F's or something
like that.

740
00:32:50,610 --> 00:32:51,981
AUDIENCE: That didn't pronounce
F's as F's.

741
00:32:51,981 --> 00:32:53,352
In America, we pronounce
it "of."

742
00:32:53,352 --> 00:32:55,440
PROFESSOR: "Of," you mean
like a "v" sound or

743
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:56,060
something like that.

744
00:32:56,060 --> 00:32:56,910
Does that matter for this?

745
00:32:56,910 --> 00:32:57,880
Yes.

746
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:01,550
It also matters a lot that words
like "of" are little

747
00:33:01,550 --> 00:33:04,160
preposition words that we
don't think much about.

748
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:05,660
So this is a set up.

749
00:33:05,660 --> 00:33:07,720
Like "finish," most
people get.

750
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,280
Or the beginning of a word
you're more likely to get.

751
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,200
I think the pronunciation
probably matters.

752
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:12,900
I don't know that for sure.

753
00:33:12,900 --> 00:33:14,840
That's a very good thought.

754
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,680
And certainly, hiding it in
words that seem low in content

755
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,230
for interpreting a sentence is
about the best way we did it.

756
00:33:20,230 --> 00:33:23,250
That's why the second "the"
disappeared too.

757
00:33:23,250 --> 00:33:25,060
It's sort of a low
content word for

758
00:33:25,060 --> 00:33:28,060
processing a sentence.

759
00:33:28,060 --> 00:33:28,540
OK.

760
00:33:28,540 --> 00:33:30,370
This is an example that you
know, but it's a nice example

761
00:33:30,370 --> 00:33:33,890
and we can come back to
it a couple times.

762
00:33:33,890 --> 00:33:37,305
So let me think about
this for one second.

763
00:33:40,490 --> 00:33:43,220
Maybe we'll do it this way--
that we'll ask somebody at

764
00:33:43,220 --> 00:33:45,840
their seat who has typical
color vision.

765
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:50,410
If you're color blind, this one
is not a good one for you.

766
00:33:50,410 --> 00:33:51,970
Some percentage are.

767
00:33:51,970 --> 00:33:53,910
Is somebody willing at their
seat to read aloud stuff they

768
00:33:53,910 --> 00:33:55,160
see on a monitor?

769
00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,200
OK, thank you.

770
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:00,650
Here we go.

771
00:34:00,650 --> 00:34:03,860
So you're gonna see words
that are printed

772
00:34:03,860 --> 00:34:05,170
in different colors.

773
00:34:05,170 --> 00:34:12,159
Your job is to name aloud the
color of the ink that it's

774
00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:12,860
printed in.

775
00:34:12,860 --> 00:34:13,850
Does that make sense?

776
00:34:13,850 --> 00:34:16,610
So like on this F, you
would say it's red on

777
00:34:16,610 --> 00:34:18,270
that F. Is that OK?

778
00:34:18,270 --> 00:34:18,679
Here we go.

779
00:34:18,679 --> 00:34:22,022
So start here and just go.

780
00:34:22,022 --> 00:34:23,990
AUDIENCE: Red, orange.

781
00:34:23,990 --> 00:34:25,958
PROFESSOR: As fast as you
can, just keep going.

782
00:34:25,958 --> 00:34:30,889
AUDIENCE: Green, brown, pink,
green, blue, yellow, red.

783
00:34:30,889 --> 00:34:32,040
PROFESSOR: Great, excellent.

784
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:32,719
Same thing.

785
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:34,989
Read the color of the ink
exactly like you were doing.

786
00:34:34,989 --> 00:34:36,947
Go.

787
00:34:36,947 --> 00:34:41,440
AUDIENCE: Green, blue, red,
blue, red, yellow, red.

788
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,360
PROFESSOR: Ah, you're
pretty good.

789
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:43,750
OK.

790
00:34:43,750 --> 00:34:47,639
It's supposed to slow you down
when you get the ink in the

791
00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:48,360
wrong colors.

792
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:49,070
And it usually does.

793
00:34:49,070 --> 00:34:51,268
But you were very good.

794
00:34:54,642 --> 00:34:55,606
All right.

795
00:34:55,606 --> 00:34:57,570
Again, if you know this from
courses and the internet,

796
00:34:57,570 --> 00:35:00,060
don't ruin it for others, but
think about it for yourself.

797
00:35:00,060 --> 00:35:02,220
So now we're gonna
turn to thought.

798
00:35:02,220 --> 00:35:03,930
There's 30 people in a room.

799
00:35:03,930 --> 00:35:07,070
Just imagine you sat-- there'
just groups of 30 here.

800
00:35:07,070 --> 00:35:09,440
You get the month and date of
each person's birthday.

801
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,640
So it's not the year they were
born, but it could be December

802
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,630
1 or February 5 or something
like that.

803
00:35:15,630 --> 00:35:18,130
What is the approximate
probability that two people

804
00:35:18,130 --> 00:35:20,310
will have the exact
same birthday?

805
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,280
I can tell you the vast majority
of people under

806
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,640
slightly less suspicious
circumstances of this will

807
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:32,980
answer about 10%.

808
00:35:32,980 --> 00:35:35,050
That's the vast majority.

809
00:35:35,050 --> 00:35:37,550
The correct answer is--

810
00:35:37,550 --> 00:35:39,380
OK?

811
00:35:39,380 --> 00:35:41,490
Why do you think--

812
00:35:41,490 --> 00:35:43,120
this is work from Kahneman
and Tversky.

813
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:44,070
We'll come back to this.

814
00:35:44,070 --> 00:35:47,650
Why do you think people tend
to answer 10%, some 30%?

815
00:35:47,650 --> 00:35:50,490
Very few people give you
the mathematically

816
00:35:50,490 --> 00:35:51,430
correct answer of 70%.

817
00:35:51,430 --> 00:35:52,680
Why do they do that?

818
00:35:56,020 --> 00:36:00,100
Because they tend to think, how
often have I met somebody

819
00:36:00,100 --> 00:36:02,660
who has my exact birthday?

820
00:36:02,660 --> 00:36:03,820
And you go, not that often.

821
00:36:03,820 --> 00:36:06,320
It's not like every 30 people
I meet, somebody says, you

822
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:07,590
were born on March 3.

823
00:36:07,590 --> 00:36:08,910
I was born in March 3.

824
00:36:08,910 --> 00:36:10,690
And then you go have lunch
and you go, hey, I was

825
00:36:10,690 --> 00:36:11,350
born on March 3.

826
00:36:11,350 --> 00:36:13,280
And you go have dinner with
another group and they go, I

827
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:14,480
was born on March 3.

828
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:16,640
It's not something that
happens a lot, right?

829
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,380
So you go, well, in real
life it doesn't seem

830
00:36:18,380 --> 00:36:20,050
to happen very often.

831
00:36:20,050 --> 00:36:22,010
That's what we call a
heuristic-- a simple way to

832
00:36:22,010 --> 00:36:22,780
think about it.

833
00:36:22,780 --> 00:36:24,430
Because your experience
is kind of like that.

834
00:36:24,430 --> 00:36:25,690
But why is that incorrect

835
00:36:25,690 --> 00:36:29,760
mathematically for this question?

836
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:34,050
Because the math depends on
not that's exactly your

837
00:36:34,050 --> 00:36:37,790
birthday, but any pair of
birthdays among the 30 people.

838
00:36:37,790 --> 00:36:39,060
And then it goes way up.

839
00:36:39,060 --> 00:36:41,310
In fact, it goes to 70%.

840
00:36:41,310 --> 00:36:43,380
And if it's 24 people,
it's 50%.

841
00:36:43,380 --> 00:36:45,860
If you're a group of 36 people,
there's a 90% chance,

842
00:36:45,860 --> 00:36:47,190
just mathematically, that
two people will

843
00:36:47,190 --> 00:36:48,840
share the same birthday.

844
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:53,070
Because when we face things that
are hard to think about,

845
00:36:53,070 --> 00:36:56,190
because there's no easy answer,
humans tend to take

846
00:36:56,190 --> 00:37:00,180
shortcuts and say, what's the
gist of my experience, and

847
00:37:00,180 --> 00:37:01,430
that's what I think
the answer is.

848
00:37:01,430 --> 00:37:04,700
Even when a calculable
answer is available.

849
00:37:04,700 --> 00:37:07,580
It's human nature to make a
shortcut based on your sense

850
00:37:07,580 --> 00:37:08,830
of your experience.

851
00:37:10,900 --> 00:37:15,560
So there's a very interesting
line of work--

852
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,040
Dan Gilbert of Harvard
is a leading figure--

853
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:20,910
about this idea of thinking
about your future.

854
00:37:20,910 --> 00:37:23,780
Now, thinking about our future
is a big thing, right?

855
00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:27,580
We're thinking about what's it
like in this course, what's it

856
00:37:27,580 --> 00:37:30,090
like in college, what's our
friendship like, relations

857
00:37:30,090 --> 00:37:32,790
with parents, what's our future
career paths, what kind

858
00:37:32,790 --> 00:37:34,670
of life will we lead, right?

859
00:37:34,670 --> 00:37:37,690
Our future is something that's
hugely on our mind, I think,

860
00:37:37,690 --> 00:37:39,860
very powerfully when you're
a college student

861
00:37:39,860 --> 00:37:40,530
or a graduate student.

862
00:37:40,530 --> 00:37:42,110
What's my future?

863
00:37:42,110 --> 00:37:44,680
And a big question that people
have is what will make me

864
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:46,170
happy in a deep sense?

865
00:37:46,170 --> 00:37:48,270
What will make me happy
in a deep sense?

866
00:37:48,270 --> 00:37:50,010
Because that's the life
I want to lead--

867
00:37:50,010 --> 00:37:52,620
the values I want to have, the
kind of career choices and

868
00:37:52,620 --> 00:37:55,950
personal choices I want to make,
where I will devote my

869
00:37:55,950 --> 00:37:58,340
time on this earth.

870
00:37:58,340 --> 00:38:02,820
So most people, first of all,
tend to think about good

871
00:38:02,820 --> 00:38:04,550
things, positive things.

872
00:38:04,550 --> 00:38:06,430
Actually, I can tell you what
comes later in the course.

873
00:38:06,430 --> 00:38:07,660
It's good to think that lots of

874
00:38:07,660 --> 00:38:08,640
positive things are happening.

875
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:10,050
It's kind of a nice place
to be in terms of

876
00:38:10,050 --> 00:38:12,230
being a happy person.

877
00:38:12,230 --> 00:38:17,350
But it turns out that people
have done studies like this.

878
00:38:17,350 --> 00:38:20,380
So now this is particularly
sensitive for a faculty

879
00:38:20,380 --> 00:38:22,880
member, but it could work for
any sports team you've tried

880
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,090
out or anything you've tried
out for in your life.

881
00:38:25,090 --> 00:38:27,010
So what happens when we get
reviewed for tenure?

882
00:38:27,010 --> 00:38:28,410
And you hear a bit about that.

883
00:38:28,410 --> 00:38:31,340
This was an easy study for
a psychologist to do.

884
00:38:31,340 --> 00:38:34,190
What they did is they called up
people in the fall who were

885
00:38:34,190 --> 00:38:36,260
being reviewed for tenure.

886
00:38:36,260 --> 00:38:38,670
And you get tenure
or you don't.

887
00:38:38,670 --> 00:38:40,935
And it's a bit of a sad process
if you don't, right,

888
00:38:40,935 --> 00:38:43,150
because you don't get tenure,
and then you don't feel happy

889
00:38:43,150 --> 00:38:43,690
about that.

890
00:38:43,690 --> 00:38:45,230
And you have to call your
parents and say, I didn't get

891
00:38:45,230 --> 00:38:47,220
tenure, and your parents go,
come on, if you just slept

892
00:38:47,220 --> 00:38:48,340
better, you would've
gotten tenure.

893
00:38:48,340 --> 00:38:50,150
[LAUGHTER]

894
00:38:50,150 --> 00:38:54,570
PROFESSOR: Remember the piano
lessons you didn't take.

895
00:38:54,570 --> 00:38:56,220
So it's a bit of a
nuisance, right?

896
00:38:56,220 --> 00:38:57,290
On top of that--

897
00:38:57,290 --> 00:38:59,420
because weirdly, in academics,
we tend to be super

898
00:38:59,420 --> 00:39:01,940
specialized-- you have
to move out of town.

899
00:39:01,940 --> 00:39:04,500
You don't have to, but
typically, a person who

900
00:39:04,500 --> 00:39:06,500
doesn't get tenure will get
a job somewhere else.

901
00:39:06,500 --> 00:39:08,620
There's plenty of stories of
people who don't get tenure at

902
00:39:08,620 --> 00:39:11,690
awesome places who were
geniuses in history.

903
00:39:11,690 --> 00:39:13,600
The tenure decisions
are often wrong.

904
00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:15,520
But still, you'd rather
get it than not.

905
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:17,660
You'd rather get into the
medical school than not.

906
00:39:17,660 --> 00:39:18,970
You'd rather make a sports
team you want

907
00:39:18,970 --> 00:39:21,210
to be on than not.

908
00:39:21,210 --> 00:39:22,410
So here's what they found out.

909
00:39:22,410 --> 00:39:24,900
If they asked them what happens
if you don't get

910
00:39:24,900 --> 00:39:26,400
tenure, everybody says, oh,
it's gonna be awful.

911
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:27,335
It's gonna be miserable.

912
00:39:27,335 --> 00:39:29,440
I'm gonna be such an
unhappy person.

913
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:33,570
Two years later, the average
happiness of people who didn't

914
00:39:33,570 --> 00:39:36,200
get tenure was equal to the
average happiness of people

915
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,220
who did get tenure.

916
00:39:38,220 --> 00:39:39,970
So you can say, well,
tenure-- only

917
00:39:39,970 --> 00:39:41,420
professors care about tenure.

918
00:39:41,420 --> 00:39:43,530
Well, how about winning
the lottery?

919
00:39:43,530 --> 00:39:45,510
What if I won hundreds of
thousands of dollars?

920
00:39:45,510 --> 00:39:48,470
There' been a lot of psychology
on this, actually.

921
00:39:48,470 --> 00:39:52,360
In about a year to two, the
average happiness of a lottery

922
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:54,560
winner who won a substantial
amount of money is rated the

923
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:58,670
same by him or her as it was
the population as a whole.

924
00:39:58,670 --> 00:39:59,050
Yeah?

925
00:39:59,050 --> 00:40:00,394
AUDIENCE: How did they go about

926
00:40:00,394 --> 00:40:01,740
measuring average happiness?

927
00:40:01,740 --> 00:40:03,050
PROFESSOR: Yeah, so we'll
come back to this,

928
00:40:03,050 --> 00:40:04,860
but I'll tell you.

929
00:40:04,860 --> 00:40:06,870
You can like this or
not like this.

930
00:40:06,870 --> 00:40:08,820
In some parts of psychology,
we measure things like

931
00:40:08,820 --> 00:40:10,220
reaction time to the
millisecond.

932
00:40:10,220 --> 00:40:12,410
That's good data, right?

933
00:40:12,410 --> 00:40:14,930
Our brain activation,
that's good data.

934
00:40:14,930 --> 00:40:17,480
When you ask a person how happy
they are, the only thing

935
00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,670
we can do is have you basically
fill a scale from

936
00:40:19,670 --> 00:40:20,360
one to seven.

937
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:22,250
How happy are you?

938
00:40:22,250 --> 00:40:24,190
And you could go, well I'm a
little worried about that,

939
00:40:24,190 --> 00:40:26,650
because sometimes people say, I
hope that it makes you happy

940
00:40:26,650 --> 00:40:27,820
or something.

941
00:40:27,820 --> 00:40:30,290
So you could say, how
much can we trust

942
00:40:30,290 --> 00:40:31,780
subjective reports of happiness?

943
00:40:31,780 --> 00:40:33,290
And that's a very
good question.

944
00:40:33,290 --> 00:40:35,150
On the other hand, it's hard
to know what would

945
00:40:35,150 --> 00:40:37,660
be better than that.

946
00:40:37,660 --> 00:40:39,080
If we measure your
pulse, is that a

947
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:41,840
better measure of happiness?

948
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:43,830
Your pulse could be racing
because you're sad or happy,

949
00:40:43,830 --> 00:40:45,650
scared or enthusiastic.

950
00:40:45,650 --> 00:40:48,280
So we don't have a better one
that we can think of.

951
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,330
But psychologists do worry that
sometimes people will

952
00:40:50,330 --> 00:40:51,990
just say what they're
supposed to say.

953
00:40:51,990 --> 00:40:54,350
Or they'll pretend they're happy
or things like that.

954
00:40:54,350 --> 00:40:56,890
We have to worry about
those things.

955
00:40:56,890 --> 00:40:59,890
So you could worry deep down,
but a year or two later,

956
00:40:59,890 --> 00:41:02,260
people who win huge amounts of
money don't report themselves

957
00:41:02,260 --> 00:41:05,930
as any happier than people
around them.

958
00:41:05,930 --> 00:41:07,050
And kind of amazingly--

959
00:41:07,050 --> 00:41:10,120
but I think it's deep
about life--

960
00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:12,460
accidents leading to
quadriplegia or paraplegia,

961
00:41:12,460 --> 00:41:16,260
accidents that, before you had
such an accident you would

962
00:41:16,260 --> 00:41:20,220
imagine that it would be
something extremely difficult.

963
00:41:20,220 --> 00:41:21,670
And it can be in many ways.

964
00:41:21,670 --> 00:41:26,370
But by self report, ratings of
happiness return to typical

965
00:41:26,370 --> 00:41:28,170
average populations
of the same age

966
00:41:28,170 --> 00:41:29,940
in about three months.

967
00:41:29,940 --> 00:41:32,860
So what's a huge lesson here
in happiness research--

968
00:41:32,860 --> 00:41:33,610
a huge surprise.

969
00:41:33,610 --> 00:41:34,970
It's two things.

970
00:41:34,970 --> 00:41:37,670
We're kind of bad at predicting
what will make us

971
00:41:37,670 --> 00:41:40,330
happy or sad, which is
kind of weird, right?

972
00:41:40,330 --> 00:41:42,260
We're kind of bad at
predicting it.

973
00:41:42,260 --> 00:41:44,220
Here's all these things where
we think they would make us

974
00:41:44,220 --> 00:41:45,920
happy or make us not so happy.

975
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:49,810
It turns out we're wrong when
this is studied at all

976
00:41:49,810 --> 00:41:52,570
scientifically.

977
00:41:52,570 --> 00:41:54,840
So we'll come back to that later
on, because it's a very

978
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:56,810
deep thing about
being a human--

979
00:41:56,810 --> 00:41:59,660
what makes you happy and
your wrong guesses

980
00:41:59,660 --> 00:42:01,300
sometimes about what does.

981
00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:03,390
So let me end with a
last experiment.

982
00:42:03,390 --> 00:42:06,610
So we've really haven't done
experiments until right now.

983
00:42:06,610 --> 00:42:10,210
And this is now a sensitive and
difficult issue, which is

984
00:42:10,210 --> 00:42:13,230
problems we have in dealing
with racism.

985
00:42:13,230 --> 00:42:15,250
And here's a study that
did the following.

986
00:42:15,250 --> 00:42:18,140
It said, well, in North America,
certainly, Canada,

987
00:42:18,140 --> 00:42:20,590
the US-- a study was
done in Canada--

988
00:42:20,590 --> 00:42:24,370
racism is widely condemned,
as I think most of us

989
00:42:24,370 --> 00:42:26,440
believe it should be.

990
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:29,070
But examples of blatant
racism still occurred.

991
00:42:29,070 --> 00:42:32,330
One recent poll said that
about a third of white

992
00:42:32,330 --> 00:42:34,760
individuals reported hearing
anti-black slurs in the

993
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:36,830
workplace in the last
couple years--

994
00:42:36,830 --> 00:42:38,000
to pick one thing.

995
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,730
So how does this happen in a
society that speaks so much

996
00:42:41,730 --> 00:42:45,010
about not being racist, about
treating everybody equally and

997
00:42:45,010 --> 00:42:46,370
fairly and kindly?

998
00:42:46,370 --> 00:42:47,800
How does it happen that
we still struggle.

999
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,380
And it's such a very deep,
difficult question about human

1000
00:42:50,380 --> 00:42:52,660
nature and the world
we live in.

1001
00:42:52,660 --> 00:42:55,910
But here's something again
that's a hint about why it's

1002
00:42:55,910 --> 00:43:00,150
hard to get society to change
some of its behaviors.

1003
00:43:00,150 --> 00:43:01,590
So here's the experiment--

1004
00:43:01,590 --> 00:43:03,110
so it's an actual experiment.

1005
00:43:03,110 --> 00:43:07,160
So they took two groups of
college undergraduates and

1006
00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,890
randomly assigned one to be
in the forecaster group.

1007
00:43:09,890 --> 00:43:12,890
That's a group that tells you
how they think they would feel

1008
00:43:12,890 --> 00:43:15,280
and how they think they would
act under certain

1009
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:17,380
circumstances.

1010
00:43:17,380 --> 00:43:19,320
And then an experiencer
group--

1011
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:21,640
that's a group who actually
undergoes an experience, and

1012
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,080
I'll tell you what
that is now.

1013
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,550
So in the experiencer group,
pretend you were their

1014
00:43:26,550 --> 00:43:27,350
research participant.

1015
00:43:27,350 --> 00:43:31,010
You walk into a room, and you
see in that room a black male

1016
00:43:31,010 --> 00:43:31,630
and a white male.

1017
00:43:31,630 --> 00:43:34,770
Now those two are what
psychologists, for some

1018
00:43:34,770 --> 00:43:36,300
reason, have called
confederates.

1019
00:43:36,300 --> 00:43:37,460
Those are role players.

1020
00:43:37,460 --> 00:43:40,530
They know what they're doing.

1021
00:43:40,530 --> 00:43:41,830
They have a plan of what
they're going to do.

1022
00:43:41,830 --> 00:43:43,640
They're going to put on
a little show for you.

1023
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:46,030
But you don't know that.

1024
00:43:46,030 --> 00:43:48,930
And the black male stands up and
leaves the room to get his

1025
00:43:48,930 --> 00:43:51,770
cell phone, and he gently bumps
the white male's knee.

1026
00:43:51,770 --> 00:43:52,810
This is all set up.

1027
00:43:52,810 --> 00:43:55,120
You're just sitting there and
you see that little bump.

1028
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,460
And now, there's three
different groups.

1029
00:43:58,460 --> 00:43:59,550
One group, that's it.

1030
00:43:59,550 --> 00:44:00,490
Nothing else happens--

1031
00:44:00,490 --> 00:44:02,860
A small bump, and the
person leaves.

1032
00:44:02,860 --> 00:44:04,790
A second group--

1033
00:44:04,790 --> 00:44:07,620
as you sit there, the black
individual leaves the room and

1034
00:44:07,620 --> 00:44:10,530
the white individual says,
quote, "Typical, I hate it

1035
00:44:10,530 --> 00:44:12,710
when black people do that."
It's meant to be obviously

1036
00:44:12,710 --> 00:44:14,900
provocative and racist.

1037
00:44:14,900 --> 00:44:17,530
And then what they consider
an extreme slur--

1038
00:44:17,530 --> 00:44:20,370
the white person in the room
playing this role uses the

1039
00:44:20,370 --> 00:44:25,380
derogatory word that's meant
to be an extreme slur.

1040
00:44:25,380 --> 00:44:28,950
So there's one more thing
you need to know.

1041
00:44:28,950 --> 00:44:30,750
Now, you're sitting there, and
you're either in the control

1042
00:44:30,750 --> 00:44:33,730
group where there's been the
slight bump, or there's been a

1043
00:44:33,730 --> 00:44:37,340
moderate slur, or an extreme
slur in their words.

1044
00:44:37,340 --> 00:44:38,360
The black male returns.

1045
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:40,660
Don't forget, he's in on it,
and so is that white male.

1046
00:44:40,660 --> 00:44:41,470
But you're not in on it.

1047
00:44:41,470 --> 00:44:43,680
You just think there was a bump,
and something else may

1048
00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:46,480
have happened, depending on
which condition you're in.

1049
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,680
And the experimenter then gives
you a survey about how

1050
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:50,650
you feel right now.

1051
00:44:50,650 --> 00:44:52,110
Sort of like the happiness,
but it's not that.

1052
00:44:52,110 --> 00:44:53,860
It's like, how do you
feel right now?

1053
00:44:53,860 --> 00:44:56,720
And then asks you to pick
between those two people a

1054
00:44:56,720 --> 00:44:59,110
partner for an anagram
experiment that

1055
00:44:59,110 --> 00:45:01,220
you're about to do.

1056
00:45:01,220 --> 00:45:02,970
So they're going to ask you--

1057
00:45:02,970 --> 00:45:04,770
this is sort of this
question you have.

1058
00:45:04,770 --> 00:45:07,810
What's the difference or
similarity between what you

1059
00:45:07,810 --> 00:45:10,650
say you're feeling is and
what you really do?

1060
00:45:10,650 --> 00:45:12,600
Both things are important,
but do they line up, do

1061
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:13,720
they not line up?

1062
00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:15,300
So here's the results.

1063
00:45:15,300 --> 00:45:16,080
Here's a graph.

1064
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:17,690
And here's how this works.

1065
00:45:17,690 --> 00:45:20,650
Negative emotional distress the
higher the bar, the more

1066
00:45:20,650 --> 00:45:23,900
you say, I feel really bad about
what's just happened.

1067
00:45:23,900 --> 00:45:26,300
I just heard this comment
or no comment.

1068
00:45:26,300 --> 00:45:28,000
So let's take a look,
the higher the bar.

1069
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:31,390
If you heard no comment,
here's how you begin.

1070
00:45:31,390 --> 00:45:33,800
So let's start with
the forecasters.

1071
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:35,555
All of you are forecasters,
because you're pretending

1072
00:45:35,555 --> 00:45:38,210
you're in the situation
but you're not in it.

1073
00:45:38,210 --> 00:45:40,250
So here is there was
no comments.

1074
00:45:40,250 --> 00:45:41,910
That's sort of average
or something.

1075
00:45:41,910 --> 00:45:44,440
And then you said if you
heard a racial slur

1076
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,554
you would feel terrible.

1077
00:45:46,554 --> 00:45:49,920
You would feel terrible.

1078
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,480
But look at the other students
who are randomly picked.

1079
00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:54,720
So we don't think it's a
difference among students.

1080
00:45:54,720 --> 00:45:55,500
Look at these grey bars.

1081
00:45:55,500 --> 00:45:57,950
They're pretty flat.

1082
00:45:57,950 --> 00:46:02,560
The person on the spot is
somehow not processing this.

1083
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,140
And they're filling out,
I feel average.

1084
00:46:06,140 --> 00:46:08,030
You see the split--

1085
00:46:08,030 --> 00:46:11,310
the split between the values
that the person thinks they

1086
00:46:11,310 --> 00:46:14,200
would have, and the values that
are responded to on the

1087
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:16,370
spot in the moment.

1088
00:46:16,370 --> 00:46:18,410
And what we'll talk about later
on in social psychology

1089
00:46:18,410 --> 00:46:23,860
is there's a tough gap, often,
between the values we espouse

1090
00:46:23,860 --> 00:46:26,500
and how we act when there's
especially unexpected,

1091
00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:27,900
difficult things.

1092
00:46:27,900 --> 00:46:29,340
And very often--

1093
00:46:29,340 --> 00:46:31,130
if you've had any experience
like this-- afterwards, you

1094
00:46:31,130 --> 00:46:32,890
go, oh, what I should
have done is this.

1095
00:46:32,890 --> 00:46:34,730
Or I wish I would've
said that.

1096
00:46:34,730 --> 00:46:37,040
But that moment is not happening
at that moment,

1097
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:38,250
probably because you're
kind of weirded out

1098
00:46:38,250 --> 00:46:38,910
by the whole thing.

1099
00:46:38,910 --> 00:46:39,670
What's going on?

1100
00:46:39,670 --> 00:46:41,810
Why would the person say this?

1101
00:46:41,810 --> 00:46:42,620
Something doesn't seem right.

1102
00:46:42,620 --> 00:46:44,330
I can't sort it out.

1103
00:46:44,330 --> 00:46:47,900
And so people tend to shrink
in terms of making a strong

1104
00:46:47,900 --> 00:46:50,060
conclusion of what's going on
if something seems unusually

1105
00:46:50,060 --> 00:46:51,140
provocative.

1106
00:46:51,140 --> 00:46:53,010
And you could say, well, OK,
that's their attitudes.

1107
00:46:53,010 --> 00:46:53,860
But how about their action?

1108
00:46:53,860 --> 00:46:55,670
Who do they pick to
be their partner?

1109
00:46:55,670 --> 00:46:58,340
And again, the people
forecasting said, if I was in

1110
00:46:58,340 --> 00:47:04,550
this situation, I would never
pick that racist white person

1111
00:47:04,550 --> 00:47:08,570
to be my partner, because
that person stinks--

1112
00:47:08,570 --> 00:47:10,120
if I was in that situation.

1113
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,720
But if the people are
in the situation--

1114
00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:14,180
look at the grey bars--

1115
00:47:14,180 --> 00:47:15,440
pretty flat.

1116
00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,620
It's a if on the spot, in the
moment, they can't quite

1117
00:47:19,620 --> 00:47:22,730
process the values they
feel and the action

1118
00:47:22,730 --> 00:47:24,130
they're going to take.

1119
00:47:24,130 --> 00:47:25,260
And we'll talk about that.

1120
00:47:25,260 --> 00:47:28,870
And it's very hard, often,
in part, to be brave

1121
00:47:28,870 --> 00:47:29,810
and stand up to things.

1122
00:47:29,810 --> 00:47:31,670
It turns out there's a lot
of evidence for this.

1123
00:47:31,670 --> 00:47:33,900
It's a human nature thing.

1124
00:47:33,900 --> 00:47:36,090
It's very hard to be brave and
stand up to things when things

1125
00:47:36,090 --> 00:47:38,140
are kind of weird, because
almost everybody at first

1126
00:47:38,140 --> 00:47:40,180
thinks, I don't want to
make a fool of myself.

1127
00:47:40,180 --> 00:47:41,830
I don't want make trouble.

1128
00:47:41,830 --> 00:47:43,880
Maybe I'm not getting the
whole picture on this.

1129
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,080
And we shrink back from acting
in a way that aligns with the

1130
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:51,900
values that are clearly
shown here.

1131
00:47:51,900 --> 00:47:53,520
So this, again, is something
about human

1132
00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:54,610
nature that's very weird.

1133
00:47:54,610 --> 00:47:56,260
And it's powerful to come
into social psychology.

1134
00:47:56,260 --> 00:47:59,050
And that's why it's very hard
to stand up to things like

1135
00:47:59,050 --> 00:48:00,210
oppression and bias.

1136
00:48:00,210 --> 00:48:04,240
It's very hard to do, because
we tend to not act on our

1137
00:48:04,240 --> 00:48:05,910
values when we're
in complicated

1138
00:48:05,910 --> 00:48:08,730
situations on the spot.

1139
00:48:08,730 --> 00:48:10,920
And there's a tremendous amount
of evidence for that.

1140
00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:12,990
So again, how we interpret
the situation--

1141
00:48:12,990 --> 00:48:16,880
very different in our mind when
we imagine we're there,

1142
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:17,890
and when we actually
sit there.

1143
00:48:17,890 --> 00:48:20,710
And so what these researchers
say is this is partly why it's

1144
00:48:20,710 --> 00:48:25,350
been hard to eradicate some
vestiges of stereotypes and

1145
00:48:25,350 --> 00:48:29,160
racism, because people have a
hard time clamping down on it

1146
00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:30,410
in the moment.

1147
00:48:33,170 --> 00:48:35,580
So that's a tough topic, but we
know we want to deal both

1148
00:48:35,580 --> 00:48:38,650
with things that are less
controversial but also things

1149
00:48:38,650 --> 00:48:40,580
that touch people's lives
in the real world

1150
00:48:40,580 --> 00:48:41,480
that we live in.

1151
00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:43,320
So we talked about a
scientific study

1152
00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:44,490
of the human nature--

1153
00:48:44,490 --> 00:48:45,770
mind and behavior--

1154
00:48:45,770 --> 00:48:50,740
how what we see and hear is
determined so much but how our

1155
00:48:50,740 --> 00:48:53,240
mind interprets the world around
us; how we remember

1156
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:55,330
things like word lists or
stories, that's hugely

1157
00:48:55,330 --> 00:48:58,800
influenced by what we expect to
see, like in the picture;

1158
00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:01,670
how we think we know things like
where Reno is compared to

1159
00:49:01,670 --> 00:49:04,450
San Francisco; how we think
about things like the

1160
00:49:04,450 --> 00:49:06,990
probability that somebody else
will have the same birthday,

1161
00:49:06,990 --> 00:49:10,150
that somebody else will in a
group; and the relationship

1162
00:49:10,150 --> 00:49:12,390
between how we feel
and how we act.

1163
00:49:12,390 --> 00:49:15,530
The very feelings we have are
often disconnected for actions

1164
00:49:15,530 --> 00:49:16,900
in the moment.

1165
00:49:16,900 --> 00:49:19,980
And sometimes that has a sort
of a difficult consequence.

1166
00:49:19,980 --> 00:49:22,100
And so we'll explore all these
things through the semester,

1167
00:49:22,100 --> 00:49:24,005
all the different facets that we
could possibly get through

1168
00:49:24,005 --> 00:49:26,680
in one semester of what it is to
be human, and where science

1169
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:28,710
has showed us something about
human nature, the

1170
00:49:28,710 --> 00:49:29,960
mind, and the brain.