• Question: what is the most surprising outcome of an investigation you have seen?

    Asked by anon-269722 on 16 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Katie Riddoch

      Katie Riddoch answered on 16 Nov 2020:

      After just 10 minutes of interacting with a robot (looking at the robot, making notes, watching it pretend to vacuum, then making a shopping list together) some people appear really attached to it! I was surprised, I thought it would take longer to feel connected to a machine!

    • Photo: Madeleine Steeds

      Madeleine Steeds answered on 16 Nov 2020:

      I think how much old people (about 70 years old) enjoyed using virtual reality. Some of them really did not want to take the headset off!

    • Photo: Joanna McParland

      Joanna McParland answered on 16 Nov 2020:

      How the way we think about things can affect how we feel pain. For example, thinking that something is unfair in our lives has been found to be associated with greater self-reported levels of pain.

    • Photo: Maggi Laurie

      Maggi Laurie answered on 16 Nov 2020:

      I found that tablets and screen-based devices encouraged autistic children to play with other people more than ‘newer’ technologies without a screen (e.g. robotic toys). This was surprising because we mgiht expect the screen to provide a distraction which makes people spend more time looking away from or engage with other people. I think that this may have been because the children were more familiar with iPads and other screen devices and were more confident or willing to start conversations and share play with others, vs. new toys which require focus to get to grips with.

    • Photo: Olga Luzon

      Olga Luzon answered on 16 Nov 2020:

      Oh so many, two cool ones are:

      People’s reports of why they do what they do are often completely incorrect.

      The Rubber Hand Illusion – Check out the video on Horizon: Is Seeing Believing? – BBC Two – a couple of strokes are enough to make your mind believe a rubber hand is your hand… what does that tell you about your body and your beliefs?

    • Photo: Mona-Lisa Kwentoh

      Mona-Lisa Kwentoh answered on 17 Nov 2020: last edited 17 Nov 2020 5:19 pm

      Long COVID symptoms……….. The pandemic has been devastating !

    • Photo: Simona Skripkauskaite

      Simona Skripkauskaite answered on 19 Nov 2020: last edited 19 Nov 2020 8:33 pm

      Hmm.. good question, I needed to reflect about that for a bit. The thing is that in psychology most of findings are note that surprising, it all makes intuitive sense when you think about it. It’s the thing you fail to find (but then you are rarely sure if it is really not there or if your design is flawed) that are most surprising!
      Thinking of psychological findings in a general (rather than personal) sense though, I always find it hard to believe how much the Piaget’s principle of conservation holds up. Like if you have a younger sibling (under 7 years old usually, but works on some adult children, too), try showing them two glasses with liquid in each. One should be short and fat and another thin and tall, but both have the same amount of water (or juice, chocolate milk, blood of your enemies..) in them. Then ask them which one has more in/which one they prefer. Most of them will choose the tall and thin one (or a pile of many chocolate buttons over one bar of chocolate, even if former has less chocolate). If they don’t – your sibling is broken (jk)!

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