The Science of Persuasion Answers

Here are the answers to yesterday's Science of  Persuasion quiz along with a brief explanation on each. Few people had actually guessed very close to the actual answers. Congrats to you guys! I Hope you enjoyed it and if you are interested in more such quizzes please visit Daily Planet's Mind Bender via  Discovery Channel.


1. How many times should an idea be repeated for maximum effect? 
a) 3-5

Studies have found that the maximum effect came from 3-5 repetitions of an idea or message. Repetition fails if people aren't paying attention or if an argument is weak. If an argument is strong, repetition increases its power to persuade. However, too much repetition can have the opposite of the desired effect.

The Science of Persuation

I recently was watching TV and came up on a show that listed some awesome facts about the power of persuasion. The host basically gave a short quiz about the topic and listed a few plausible choices and then revealed the correct answer. I will try to reproduce that quiz in this post and you will have to take guesses as to what the right answer should be

Symmetry & Words

   Everynone is a filmmaking team based in New York. Two of their many works that are awe inspiring and very creative are: "Symmetry" and "WORDS".

   In our daily lives we see symmetry in almost everything around us. This video shows us the symmetry of difference. This can be seen in simple objects such as fries & ketchup, peanut butter & jelly, day & night, fire& ice; or in a more complex human way by means of social interactions between: a police officer & criminal, men & women, newborn & elderly, laughter & crying, birth & death.

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.

Hardest World Languages

   Lets face it in our vastly interconnected world which is mostly caused by globalization, nowadays many people know more than one language. This can be very beneficial because one can easily communicate with others when they are abroad and can pretty much find their way around that new city easily. I, myself know three languages, in which I can fluently converse; they would be: English, Ukrainian and Russian.

   If anyone is interested in learning a new language for themselves, there is a vast amount of free tutorials, videos and lessons on the internet. One great resource is book2 - a website with hundreds of free mp3s that let you learn a new language anywhere you are ("The 100 lessons help you to quickly learn and use a foreign language in various situations").

   This leads to my next point - I wanted to find out what languages would be the hardest to learn from an English speaking perspective. My search led me to this great pictograph: