ughaibu Posted March 10, 2008 Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 Please answer the following questions: 1+5=? 2+4=? 3+3=? 4+2=? 5+1=? Think of a vegetable, what is it? There's a claim, widely circulated on the internet, that 98% of people answer "carrot". However, I have also read of a class of psychology students returning a figure of 57% and a sample returning 70% without the preliminary questions of addition. I have seen suggestions that the result is explained by the number of letters in "carrot" and by phonetic similarity of 'six' and 'sticks', however, the test is said to produce the same results in finnish. As I'm in Japan I haven't much access to english speakers, the two I have tested said "carrot", so I intend to experiment with Japanese both in english and in japanese. So far my only test returned "pi-man" (green pepper). Ideally I would like several volunteers to run the test in different languages, and in control groups both with and without the addition. Anyone interested? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeztar Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Carrot was the first thing to come to mind.I'll try it out on some other folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 cucumber... strawberries was a close second though. :doh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-qu Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Carrot :phones: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boerseun Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 Interesting! Will try it on some local Afrikaans vs. English people, see what shakes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boerseun Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 First English-speaker I tried it on got "Peas". Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougF Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 I answered "carrot" Interesting! :phones: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 So, what'd you guys turn up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ughaibu Posted March 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 So far the Japanese have only produced one carrot. Green pepper, potato and onion are all more popular but easy winner is tomato. I'll keep at it a little longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zythryn Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 Cucumber here. Interesting experiment;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaurieAG Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 First English-speaker I tried it on got "Peas". Oh well. Hi Boerseun, I just asked the question and got 'peas' too (was your answer the one given after they said 'I don't know'). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modest Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 I asked 4 people two without addition questions gave: 'tomato' and 'green beans'two with addition gave: 'carrot' and 'salad' (yes the girl that said salad is an idiot) //editI forgot, when I first read it I said carrot, but I think I may have seen the word in my peripheral vision further down in the message which may have contributed to that answer. Impossible for me to say for sure. -modest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boerseun Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 Hi Boerseun, I just asked the question and got 'peas' too (was your answer the one given after they said 'I don't know').Yep. "Uhhh... I don't know, peas?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-qu Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 So is it more likely to give a 6 letter answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblackalchemist Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Potatoes :hihi::phones::cheer::) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblackalchemist Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Oksince i m fluent in hindi,tamil 6 in tamil is "aaru"when said fast it resembles "alu" which in hindi means potatoesso thats how i got mineTBA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ughaibu Posted March 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Nice. 6 in japanese is 'roku', the nearest I can think of is broccoli, which I've yet to hear. Though, other than carrot, broccoli and cucumber appear (from the discussions I've read) to be the main contenders in english. theblackalchemist 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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