MONSTERS UNDER THE BED
Where imagination begins
Comprehension Exercise
Word Tricks That Fool Your Brain!
Even slight alterations in word choices can affect our decision making. In this
comprehension passage, we look at the work of neurologists, sociologists, and
linguists;
and
what
their
research
shows
on
words
and
the
brain.
Recommended for Secondary 2.
+++
Words are compressed ideas. Studies have shown that, by tailoring our word choices,
we can cause others (and ourselves) to behave in dramatically different ways. Today,
industries such as advertising, motivational coaching, and sales all pay careful
attention to language.
One well documented phenomenon in the food industry is that of meaningless
differentiation. Since the 1940’s, the food industry has realised that adding adjectives
to a food name, no matter how meaningless, improves the odds of people buying it.
A cereal company tested this in the 1980s. They released two boxes of cereals: the
first mentioned Muesli flakes. The second mentioned crunchy Muesli flakes. Both
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED PTE LTD – 1 Sophia Road, Peace Centre, #03-31 Singapore 228149
Hotline: 6100 4363 e-mail: [email protected]
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED
Where imagination begins
cereals were the same, and you might notice that the adjective “crunchy” is
redundant. All cereal flakes are supposed to possess this quality.
Nonetheless, the “crunchy” flakes outsold their counterparts by over 30%.
You can see the same method used in supermarkets today. Food names often include
vague adjectives such as “premium”, “pure grade” (according to a grading system that
is never explained), or even “alpine”.
People are just more likely to choose “premium” chicken over plain old “chicken”. Even
if they’re both frozen products in the same aisle.
Studies have also shown that replacing negative words with positive ones can change
the listener’s reaction. This is why few salesmen use the words “buy” or “cost”, when
talking to customers.
Rather than ask “Would you like to buy this car?” a salesman will more likely ask
“Would you like to own this car?”
Simply switching “buy” to “own” makes a lot of people think of the car, and not the
price tag. Likewise, rather than say the “cost” of the car is $130,000, the salesman
might say the “value” of the car is $130,000.
Beyond positive and negative words, even vowels can affect perceptions.
There is a linguistic quirk called “the vowel effect”. In almost any language, “front
vowels” made with the tongue forward in the mouth (the letters i and e) suggest small,
fast, and sharp things. “Back vowels” made with the tongue nearer to the throat (o, a,
and u) suggest heavy or big things.
In a linguistics survey conducted in 2002, some people who spoke no Mandarin were
put through a test. One of their tasks was to guess which of two Mandarin words,
zhong and qing, suggests “lightness”.
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED PTE LTD – 1 Sophia Road, Peace Centre, #03-31 Singapore 228149
Hotline: 6100 4363 e-mail: [email protected]
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED
Where imagination begins
Despite not speaking Mandarin, almost every participant guessed correctly (Qing).
This was due to the vowel effect, as “Qing” requires the tongue to be in the front of the
mouth.
The vowel effect is also related to gender. Words with strong back vowels (e.g. axe,
dragon, and dominion) tend to hold the attention of men. Words with strong front
vowels (tiara, secret, and sing) tend to hold the attention of women
In the electronics industry, there is a rumour that this is why Microsoft named its game
console the Xbox (a “back vowel” sound). It might be to get more masculine appeal
than “Playstation” or “Wii”.
Questions:
1) Why would a company name its product “premium ice-cream” instead of
just “ice-cream”?
2) Why do many salesmen prefer to use the word “own” rather than “buy”?
3) What is a “front vowel”?
4) What kind of qualities do words with strong “back vowels” suggest?
5) In the third paragraph, the passage says the word “crunchy” is
redundant. What does the word “redundant” mean?
6) How would the front and back vowels of a word affect a product’s name?
7) Why were the non-Mandarin speakers able to correctly guess the word?
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED PTE LTD – 1 Sophia Road, Peace Centre, #03-31 Singapore 228149
Hotline: 6100 4363 e-mail: [email protected]
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED
Where imagination begins
Answers:
1) Due to the phenomenon of meaningless differentiation, people are more likely to
buy a product with adjectives in the food name.
2) Salesmen prefer the word “own” to “buy” because it makes a lot of people think of
the car instead of the price tag.
3) A “front vowel” is a sound made with the tongue forward in the mouth, such as with
the sounds of i and e.
4) “Back vowels” suggest heavy or big things, and words with back vowels tend to hold
the attention of men.
5) The word “redundant” refers to something that is either not useful, or unnecessary.
6) The vowel effect is related to gender, and words with strong back vowels tend to
hold the attention of men, whereas words with strong front vowels tend to hold the
attention of women.
7) They were able to correctly guess the word because of the vowel effect, which
requires the tongue to be forward in the mouth for the word “Qing”.
Word Bank:
Phenomenon – A fact or situation that is observed to exist, especially one with
uncertain causes. For example: The number of car accidents at this junction is a
phenomenon which baffles the police.
Redundant – Something that is either not useful, or unnecessary. For example: I
already have four pens, and carrying any more would be redundant.
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED PTE LTD – 1 Sophia Road, Peace Centre, #03-31 Singapore 228149
Hotline: 6100 4363 e-mail: [email protected]
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED
Where imagination begins
Counterpart/Counterparts – A person or thing that has the same function as another
person or thing, but in a different place or situation. For example: Singapore’s Prime
Minister met his Australian counterpart at the last conference.
Linguistic - Something related to language, or the study of languages. For example:
Charlie could read at the age of three, and has excellent linguistic skills.
Gender – The cultural standards of how men or women should behave. Gender is not
the same as sex (which is a biological factor). For example: Daniel mistakenly
assumed that every one of the female gender enjoyed cooking.
MONSTERS UNDER THE BED PTE LTD – 1 Sophia Road, Peace Centre, #03-31 Singapore 228149
Hotline: 6100 4363 e-mail: [email protected]