Desire Controls What We Perceive, Study Finds
From Live Science: "Without realizing it, people will perceive things according to how they want to see them, a new study suggests." This may explain, for example, why people on different sides of an argument remember wildly different aspects of the confrontation.From Live Science: “Without realizing it, people will perceive things according to how they want to see them, a new study suggests.”
Live Science:
Without realizing it, people will perceive things according to how they want to see them, a new study suggests.
“There is an age old hypothesis in psychology that a person’s wishes, hopes and desires can influence what they see,” said David Dunning, Cornell University psychologist and co-author of the study. “This theory had lay dormant for about 40 years, though, without any supporting evidence. We wanted to test the murky waters again.”
In five separate tests conducted by Dunning and a graduate student, Emily Balcetis, 412 volunteers from Cornell were presented with an ambiguous picture that could be interpreted as two distinct figures — either a horse’s head or the body of a seal, for example. They were told they would be assigned to a taste test of either fresh-squeezed orange juice or a gelatinous, clumpy and rather unappealing veggie smoothie, depending on whether they saw a farm animal or sea creature.
More often than not the participants chose the figure that would lead them to the juice.
In 2026, amid chaos and the nonstop flurry of headlines, Truthdig remains independent, fact-based and focused on exposing what power tries to hide.
Support Independent Journalism.
In 30 of 48 examined countries, Oxford researchers discover evidence of political parties using "computational propaganda" during elections or referendums.
The analysis suggests the administration proposal would make it easier for restaurant owners and managers to profit at the expense of their workers.
A new report from the Pew Research Center explains that the notion of a global middle class is "more promise than reality."
For years now we've heard about randy grandparents getting nasty in the old folks home. Yet studies of septuagenarian sex continue to make the news as if it's weird, shocking or gross.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.