What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes (22 page)

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PSYCH!

Bottomless Bowls

Four students are sitting a table, dutifully eating Q

bowls of tomato soup. They think they’re taking part in a tomato soup taste test, but they’re not. They don’t know that 1) it’s not really a taste test, and 2) two of the four bowls on the table are bottomless, rigged to refill at the same rate at which the soup is being eaten. Sounds like a scene from a candid

camera–type show, doesn’t it? It could be, but it’s actually a scene from a classic Brian Wansink food psychology experiment. He wanted to find out what tells people to stop eating: feeling full or visual cues.

What happened during the tomato soup experiment?

a) All the students ate the same amount.

b) Those eating from bottomless bowls ate more.

c) Those eating from bottomless bowls ate less.

d) Those eating from normal bowls ate more.

293

Bottomless Bowls

What happened during the tomato soup experiment?

A

a) All the students ate the same amount.

b) Those eating from bottomless bowls ate more.

c) Those eating from bottomless bowls ate less.

PSYCH!

d) Those eating from normal bowls ate more.

CORRECT ANSWER:

b) Those eating from bottomless bowls ate more.

The students with the bottomless bowls ate 65%

more, on average, than the students with the normal bowls. Some ate three times as much, including one unsuspecting student who slurped down more than a litre (quart) of tinned tomato soup. When Dr.

Wansink asked him what he was doing, the student said that he was trying to get to the bottom of the bowl. No one noticed the bottomless bowls refilling, or wondered why the level wasn’t going down. They just kept eating. When it comes to how much we

consume, we tend to use our eyes, not our stomachs, to tell us when we’re full.

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Decisions, Decisions

If you were participating in a test, and were asked to Q

choose the tastiest beverage, or the best quality T-shirt, you wouldn’t just choose one at random. You’d decide after carefully considering the evidence, right?

PSYCH!

That’s what most people think they do. To study the workings of our decision-making process, psychologists went to a mall and set up tables. They laid out four pairs of identical pantyhose labelled A, B, C, and D, and invited shoppers to choose the pair that was the best quality. The sneaky scientists didn’t tell the unsuspecting participants that all the pantyhose were identical. Since they were all the same, you’d think that each pair would have been chosen about a quarter of the time, but that’s not what happened.

Which pantyhose was chosen the least often?

a) A

b) B

c) C

d) D

295

Decisions, Decisions

Which pantyhose was chosen the least often?

A

a) A

b) B

c) C

PSYCH!

d) D

CORRECT ANSWER:

a) A

Even though all the pantyhose were identical, A was picked the least often, with only 12% of the vote. B

got more votes than A, and C got more votes than B.

D was the most popular, with 40% of the participants vouching for its superior quality. The participants had very specific reasons for choosing one pair of pantyhose over the others. When the experimenters

revealed that the pantyhose were identical, all the participants stuck with their rationale, convinced that their choice truly was the best quality. Why was A chosen the least, and D the most often? Studies show that when we’re presented with objects placed in a row, we tend to choose the ones that are farther to the right. We do choose things for a reason, but maybe not for the reason we think.

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Cold Weather Personalities

Northerners who live where the winters are harsh are Q

often described as being hardy. The implication is that people who live in cold climates are tougher somehow. Is there any truth to that? To find out if PSYCH!

personality is a factor in cold tolerance, scientists at Canada’s Defence Department tested, and rated, 20

subjects for five personality traits, and then subjected them to extreme temperatures changes. The participants sat in shorts and shirts in 10ºC (50ºF) for 90

minutes, and then in 40ºC (104ºF) for the same

amount of time. Next, they were bundled up in warm clothes and exposed to the wind-chill equivalent of about -3ºC (26ºF). That’s pretty cold, but not unusual for winter in some parts of the world.

Which personality type was most comfortable in the extreme cold?

a) adventurous

b) conscientious

c) extroverted

d) neurotic

297

Cold Weather Personalities

Which personality type was most comfortable in the A

extreme cold?

a) adventurous

b) conscientious

PSYCH!

c) extroverted

d) neurotic

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) neurotic

During the cool and hot parts of the experiment, the neurotics complained more than the extroverts, and their bodies registered more stress. But in the extreme cold, the neurotics were more comfortable, and the extroverts were more stressed. The researchers hadn’t expected the sudden role reversal, but speculate that maybe the extroverts, who were more comfortable in the first part of the experiment, were shocked by the unpleasant turn of events. The neurotics, meanwhile, had expected something bad to happen, and when it finally did, it wasn’t a big deal. It’s no secret that different people respond differently to temperature stress, but how, or why, is still a mystery.

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The $ecrets of $uccess

There are about a million millionaires in the world, Q

which means that your odds of becoming one are

better if you’re in business than if you’re playing most lotteries. Of course, buying a lottery ticket is a lot PSYCH!

easier than succeeding in business. Aside from hard work, other things go into a winning formula for success, including an education, timely ideas, good connections, and luck, to name a few. Those at the bottom of the corporate ladder are always looking for an edge, something special, that will help them rise to the top. Is there a secret edge? According to studies . . .

What percentage of male executives are taller than average?

a) 15%

b) 30%

c) 60%

d) 90%

299

The $ecrets of $uccess

What percentage of male executives are taller than A

average?

a) 15%

b) 30%

PSYCH!

c) 60%

d) 90%

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) 90%

The average height for North American males is 175

centimetres (5' 9"), but in studies, 90% of business executives were taller than average. Less than 4% of men in the general population are over 188 centimetres (6' 2"), but nearly a third of the execs were that tall. The “height bonus” for male execs is about $1,000 a year for every 2.5 centimetres (1 in) of height over 168 centimetres (5' 6"). For women, height wasn’t a factor, but there was a premium for beauty, and a penalty for plainness. In one study, obese white women (but not black women) were heavily penal-ized. They earned 17% less than women in their

recommended weight range. Attractive women earned about 5–10% more than average lookers. So, guys, if you want to be a successful CEO, be as tall as possible. Girls, you have to be as naturally, or surgically, attractive as possible. But sadly, even if you’re attractive, in most of the working world, you’re still not likely to earn as much as a guy.

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Criminal Makeover

Are unattractive men more likely to be criminals? Do Q

good-looking criminals get better treatment? To study the relationship between attractiveness and criminality, 100 unattractive perps were given plastic surgery to PSYCH!

improve their looks before they were released from a major American prison. They were matched with 100

equally unattractive men who didn’t receive a cosmetic makeover before being released. A year later . . .

What did the researchers find?

a) The makeover ex-cons had more re-arrests.

b) The makeover ex-cons had fewer re-arrests.

c) The untreated ex-cons had fewer re-arrests.

d) They all fared about the same.

301

Criminal Makeover

What did the researchers find?

A

a) The makeover ex-cons had more re-arrests.

b) The makeover ex-cons had fewer re-arrests.

c) The untreated ex-cons had fewer re-arrests.

PSYCH!

d) They all fared about the same.

CORRECT ANSWER:

b) The makeover ex-cons had fewer re-arrests.

The inmates who’d had procedures to correct broken noses or protruding ears, or who’d had ugly tattoos removed before they were released, did significantly better than the unattractive ex-cons. Why? Could it be that being better-looking makes you a better person? Or is it that attractive people are treated better, and get away with more? Well, studies leave little doubt that attractive people get preferential treatment in all walks of life. The bottom line is that no one knows exactly why the surgery worked, but if this study is any indication, it might pay to give cosmetic makeovers to criminals before they’re released back into society. Better-looking ex-cons who are less likely to re-offend could prove to be a win-win situation for everyone.

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EPILOGUE

Well, that’s it for now. It’s not that I’ve run out of E

questions, we’ve simply run out of pages in this book.

So how did you do? If you aced the quizzes, congratulations! But even if you didn’t, you’re already smarter, simply because you challenged your brain and learned something new. Your brain may even

have forged new neural pathways in the process.

This book was cooked up at The Brain Café™. It

took shape in my imagination as a virtual café, sym-bolizing a relaxed but stimulated state of mind, a place where learning is pure pleasure. The Brain Café™ concept is expanding like the early universe and, at this point in time, includes
What Does the
Moon Smell Like?
and a growing site on the world wide web where you’ll find more to intrigue, entertain, and enhance your brain. The Brain Café™ is always open, never closed. Consider yourself invited!

Meet me @ The Brain Café™

www.thebraincafe.ca

Eva Everything

303

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Image Credits

“A Whale We Go” image copyright Michael Price, iStockphoto;

!

“By the Billion” image copyright Wendell Franks, iStockphoto;

“Cellular Beings” image copyright Martin Fischer, iStockphoto;

“Extremes” image copyright Robert Gendler; “Laugh Factor”

image copyright Biserka; “Musical Revolutions” image copyright Jeff deVries, iStockphoto; “Psych!” image copyright Janne Ahvo, iStockphoto.

Images in chapters “Mmmm, mmmm!,” “One of a Kind —

Platypus,” “One of a Kind — You,” “Snack Attack — Afternoon Munchies,” and “Your Brain on Chocolate” are all copyright iStockphoto.

Images in chapters “High Moon,” “Mad Scientists,” “The First Astronauts,” and “The Men on the Moon” are all courtesy NASA.

Images in chapters “Einstein’s Brain: Lost & Found,” “To Stick or Not to Stick,” “Racing into the Future,” “Write On!,” “Computer Firsts,” “Sun Gazing,” “Paws ’n Claws,” “IFOs: Identified Flying Objects,” “Underwater Rainforests,” “Digital Anatomy,”

“GermYnation: On the Job,” “FAT Words,” “What is . . . ?,” “The Cat Connection,” “The Wolf in Dog’s Clothing,” “Snack Attack: Movie Time,” “The Car Kings,” “Hot Chicken,” “Survival 101: Public Restrooms,” “The Sounds of Science,” “GermYnation: Home Invasion,” “Planet of the Cars,” “Material World,” and “Top Secret” are copyright Eva Everything.

Cover images: “Smoking gun,” copyright Alan McCredie, iStockphoto; “International currency,” copyright Joel Blit, iStockphoto; “Blue moon eclipse,” copyright iStockphoto;

“Shampoo dog,” copyright Eric Isselée, iStockphoto;

“Camembert,” Tim Walton, iStockphoto.

Moon_COVER 4/22/08 3:50 PM Page 1

What I like about WHAT DOES THE MOON SMELL LIKE? is that it feeds your brain EV

without putting pounds on your waistline. The way Eva Everything presents A EVER

these insights reminds me of tasty treats in a variety of delicious flavors, with twice the fiber and no calories. You can consume as little, or as much as you want in a sitting, and have fun doing it, and I’m not just saying it because I’m in YTHING

the book.

— Brian Wansink,
Food Behavior Psychologist, Cornell University
WHAT DOES THE MOON SMELL LIKE? is a contagious book. It’s packed full of more fascinating facts than there are germs per square inch on a mobile phone keypad, and it’s much easier on your thumbs. It’s not often that you come across a popular science book (in a quiz format, no less) that’s a real page-turner. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m not saying that because I’m in the book.

— Chuck Gerba, a.k.a The Germinator,
Microbiologist, University of Arizona
what

does

If you want to know more about your chocolate bar eating style, this is the book the

for you. It’s full of questions that you may, or may not, have asked, and answers that surprise and make you think, and might even make you laugh. WHAT DOES

moon

THE MOON SMELL LIKE? is a quiz book like no other, and I highly recommend smell