"What would you think if I told you that the food you have in your cupboard contains either the preservative Hnegripitrom or Magnalroxate, and that one of these was dangerous? Unless you are a chemist, the answer reveals a lot about how your brain makes decisions when you don’t have a clue about the details."
I like my poison complicated. In a study worthy of Malcolm Gladwell, researchers presented fictional names of food additives to people and asked them to rate how dangerous they thought they were on a scale of 1 to 7.
Most people rated the fictional Hnegripitrom as more dangerous than the fictional Magnalroxate. Why? What did they base their judgment on? Apparently there is a link between ease of pronunciation and how our brains judges risk.
Read more about this study which shows that we judge things with little information all the time and the harder it is to process, the riskier it seems. If you enjoyed Gladwell's Blink you will like this article. If you have not read Gladwell and you enjoy this article than go to your local library or independent book store and get Blink!
In the meantime would you like lye in your tea or glucopyranosyl-fructofuran?
I thought so!
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