The Rat Experiment
October 31, 2005 · Print This Article
There was an experiment where researchers were given a set of rats and told to rate their ability to learn mazes. They were told that certain rats were "smart rats" and had an abnormally high IQ. When the researchers tested the rats their studies showed that the "smart rats" performed significantly better than the ordinary rats.
The experiment however wasn’t focused on the rats, it was testing the researchers. All of the rats were the same, but telling the researchers that some of the rats were smart caused them to rate the rats better, even though there was no difference.
People will view what you do through their own set of prejudices. To a certain extent, your ability to succeed is determined by what people think of you ahead of time. When it comes to humans, very few things are actually objective.
By being aware of this, you can help yourself prepare for the future by nurturing positive impressions of yourself with those around you. If they expect you to succeed, you are more likely to (at least in their eyes) than if they expect you to fail.
There was an experiment done at the University of Iowa a few years ago where people were give two hearing aids to wear for a month each and evaluate. They were told that one set was new digital aids and the other set was old analog aid, while both aids were identical. You can guess the outcome, an overwhelming preference for the digital aids with comments like, “Even my wife noticed that I hear better with these digital aids,” and “The sound quality is incredibly better with the digital aids!” To me, all this means is that marketing works.
This type of experiment was done in a school several years ago, where the teacher was told a certain group had a higher IQ and thus those kids did better…