People's estimates of quantities, such as sizes, numbers, or percentages are influenced by surreptitiously manipulating the angling of the body, states a new research. When we think about numbers, we mentally represent smaller numbers to the left and larger numbers to the right.
The researchers surmised that leaning one way or the other-even imperceptibly-might therefore nudge people to estimate lower or higher.
"Decision making, like other cognitive processes, is an integration of multiple sources of information-memory, visual imagery, and bodily information, like posture," says Anita Eerland, a psychologist at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
To test this hypothesis, Eerland and colleagues Tulio Guadalupe and Rolf Zwaan made study participants-33 undergraduates-stand on a Wii Balance Board that imperceptibly manipulated their posture to tilt left or right or stay upright while they answered estimation questions appearing on a screen.
The participants were told they probably didn't know the answers and therefore would have to estimate; they were also instructed to stand upright throughout the trials.
A representation on the screen, below the question, of the person's posture showed it to be upright even when it was not. The participants answered the questions one by one verbally.
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As expected, participants gave smaller estimations when leaning left than when either leaning right or standing upright. There was no difference in their estimates between right-leaning and upright postures.
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"Posture doesn't overwrite knowledge."
Still, says Zwaan, we should not mistake our cognitive processes as perfectly and consciously rational.
"Decision-making is not a pristine process. All sources of information creep into it, and we are just beginning to explore the role of the body in this," he added.
The study will be published in the journal Psychological Science.
Source-ANI