Absurd Intellectual

Sorry I haven’t blogged much today, I’ve been too busy reading about how I’m not so smart, after all.

I am in love with this site: You Are Not So Smart. Basically, they take common misconceptions, and then shatter them. It’s awesome. Or, perhaps I just think that it’s awesome, because I just spent a bunch of time reading it, and I want to convince myself that my time was well spent.

Part of a post on how you are not so smart when it comes to fanboyism and brand loyalty:

The Misconception: You prefer the things you own over the things you don’t because you made rational choices when we bought them.

The Truth: You prefer the things you own because you rationalize your past choices to protect your sense of self.

…

In experiments at Baylor University where people were given Coke and Pepsi in unmarked cups and then hooked up to a brain scanner, the device clearly showed a certain number of them preferred Pepsi while tasting it.

When those people were told they were drinking Pepsi, a fraction of them, the ones who had enjoyed Coke all their lives, did something unexpected. The scanner showed their brains scrambling the pleasure signals, dampening them. They then told the experimenter afterward they had preferred Coke in the taste tests.

They lied, but in their subjective experiences of the situation, they didn’t. They really did feel like they preferred Coke after it was all over, and they altered their memories to match their emotions.

They had been branded somewhere in the past and were loyal to Coke. Even if they actually enjoyed Pepsi more, huge mental constructs prevented them from admitting it, even to themselves.

The thing is, I really do like Coke better!