[FPSPACE] Fw: Cornell Chronicle: This may explain why the full Moon appears so large plus the Mars Hoax

[LARRY KLAES]

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: Cornell Chronicle Online <cunews at cornell.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:46:59 
To: <CUNEWS-SOCIAL_SCIENCE-L at cornell.edu>; <CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L at cornell.edu>
Subject: Cornell Chronicle: Things we want appear nearer, study shows

Chronicle Online e-News
 
 Things we want appear closer than they really are, studies show
 http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March10/DunningPerception.html <http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March10/DunningPerception.html> 
 
 March 11, 2010
 
 By Lauren Gold
 LG34 at cornell.edu
 
 Tempted by a plate of cookies on the buffet table? Chances are, the 
 goodies are a little farther away than you think they are. But your 
 faulty estimation may give you a little added nudge to head over to 
 the table and have one. (Or two.)
 
 In research published in the January 2010 issue of the journal 
 Psychological Science, psychology professor David Dunning and Emily 
 Balcetis, Ph.D. '06 (now an assistant professor of psychology at New 
 York University), found that when an object is desirable, we perceive 
 it to be closer than it actually is. A $100 bill, for example, may 
 appear just within reach -- while a letter from the IRS, if it were 
 placed at exactly the same distance, may appear farther away.
 
 The phenomenon could be part of an adaptive mechanism that gives us 
 added incentive to pursue the things we want and discourages us from 
 expending energy on things we don't.
 
 In the study, the researchers first tested the effect of thirst (a 
 physical desire) on distance perception. They asked 90 undergraduates 
 -- half of whom had just eaten a serving of pretzels and half who 
 hadn't -- to estimate the distance between themselves and a bottle of 
 water. On average, the thirsty group judged the water to be 25 inches 
 away, while the non-thirsty group estimated the distance at 28 inches.
 
 To test the effect on social desires, the researchers then asked two 
 groups of students to judge their distance from objects that had 
 social value (a $100 bill that could be won or a form with positive 
 feedback) and objects that had no value or negative value (a $100 
 bill that belonged to someone else or a form with critical feedback). 
 Because mood has been shown in previous research to affect aspects of 
 perception, the participants also completed a mood assessment 
 exercise.
 
 As in the first experiment, the desirable objects were thought to be 
 closer than the undesirable ones. Mood, however, showed no effect on 
 distance perception.
 
 In a final set of experiments, the researchers tested whether the 
 results were due to actual differences in perception, or instead to 
 differences in the thought processes that go into reporting the 
 perception.
 
 Instead of asking participants to estimate inches to an object, they 
 asked participants to toss a beanbag as close as possible to it or to 
 walk a set distance toward or away from it. In both cases, the 
 participants acted as though the desirable objects were closer.
 
 The finding makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, said 
 Dunning. "We know that things that are closer are more motivating 
 than things that are farther away. So if you wanted to motivate an 
 organism to go and pick up that thing that's really good for it or 
 that it desires, you'd want an organism that would see that thing as 
 closer."
 
 Understanding how desire and other factors influence perception is 
 also important in everyday life, he said. The way we perceive changes 
 in our health can influence what kind of medical care we seek, for 
 example. "Also interpersonal relationships -- if you're in a 
 marriage, how loud do you think your spouse is yelling at you? Is 
 that a smile or is that a smirk? There are a lot of ways perception 
 might guide people toward a more pleasant or a less pleasant road."
 
 The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the 
 National Institute of Mental Health.
 
 
 
 ##
 
 
 -- 
 
 
 Chronicle Online
 312 College Ave.
 Ithaca, NY 14850
 607.255.4206
 cunews at cornell.edu
 http://www.news.cornell.edu <http://www.news.cornell.edu> 
 For subscription information:
 http://www.news.cornell.edu/subscribe.shtml <http://www.news.cornell.edu/subscribe.shtml>