Here’s a quick test of your logical abilities –
(full disclosure: 90% of psychology students AND yours true FAIL this “simple” logic test)
This is called the Wason test, and was created by Dr. Wason in the 70’s.
You see four cards laid out in front of you:
a three, an eight, a brown card, and a red card.
The “tester” says he’s got a deck of cards, and it only has one rule. The rule is that if a card has an even number on one side, it HAS to have the color red on the other side.
Question: Which cards do you flip over to find out if he’s telling the truth or not?
The correct answer is to turn over the eight and the brown card. If the other side of the eight is red, you’ve confirmed the rule. If the other side of the brown is even, you’ve shown the rule to be false.
Turning over either the three or the red card won’t tell you anything.
Here’s another test. This one’s easier.
You’re a bouncer at a bar.
You see four people seated at the bar.
a 17 y/o (unknown drink) , somebody drinking a coke, somebody (unknown age) drinking a beer, and a 23 y/o.
Who do you check to make sure there are no underage drinkers?
Obvious, right? Check what the 17 y/o is drinking, and card the person drinking the beer.
Easy, right?
Well, both these questions are the same. Just presented in two different scenarios.
One is pure logic, and the other is in a social situation.
Why is one hard, and one easy?
Scientists believe it’s because our brains are not hard-wired for logic, as many of us assume.
They are instead hard wired to survive in social situations.
And as this situation shows, one of the mental skills we’ve evolved over time is the ability to sniff out “social cheats.”‘
Back in the day, some people evolved a skill of conning people. So in response, we evolved a “sixth sense” to sniff out the cons.
Which brings us to the topic at hand.
If you’re not congruent, if you don’t believe what you’re saying, you’ll come across as a “social cheat.”
It doesn’t matter WHY you’re not congruent. Nervousness, shyness, whatever. If you don’t believe the message your delivering, neither will anybody else.
Keep this in mind next time you’re trying to convince somebody of something.