Need a Favor? Talk To My Right Ear 288
Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that scientists have found that if you want to get someone to do something, ask them in their right ear. Known as the 'right ear advantage,' scientists believe it is because information received through the right ear is processed by the left hand side of the brain which is more logical and better at deciphering verbal information than the right side of the brain. 'Talk into the right ear you send your words into a slightly more amenable part of the brain,' say researchers. The team, led by Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University of Chieti in central Italy, observed the behavior of hundreds of people in three nightclubs across the city where they intentionally addressed 176 people in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette. They obtained significantly more cigarettes when they made their request in a person's right ear compared with their left. 'These results seem to be consistent with the hypothesized specialization of right and left hemispheres,' say researchers. 'We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear.'"
I hold my phone to my right ear (Score:5, Insightful)
Correlation != Causality (Score:2, Insightful)
Unconvinced (Score:5, Insightful)
Double Blind? (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I hold my phone to my right ear (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm obviously a whack job then. I hold my phone to my left ear because I'm right handed. Doesn't take all that much coordination to hold a phone up, so it's the lesser of two tasks. Job interviews over the phone for example require me to take notes (I can't write legibly with my left hand... or my right if you ask anyone else, but it's all relative...), and it's really more trouble than it's worth to reach across my keyboard and use my mouse with my left hand.
Re:Unconvinced (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not enough data (Score:5, Insightful)
Ugg, how is it that the parent is modded down but the GP is modded insightful? The GP is basically just saying "well, that doesn't feel like enough to me", while the parent points out accurately that it very easy to determine what the probability is that the results are due to chance. Since the article states that the researchers obtained "significantly" more cigarettes, I'm assuming that this is at least based on the common level of 5%. You can have a small sample size that is highly statistically significant if the skew is large enough. Unfortunately, even on slashdot, most people don't understand statistics.
That said, hypothesis testing just determines the probability that the results are NOT due to chance. Thus, it's totally possible that the results are due to something different that what the researchers propose - maybe they were just friendlier when asking from the right side.
Re:Unconvinced (Score:4, Insightful)
Correct the data for laterality (right hand preference in majority of the population), then maybe the results will be interesting. Even then, the explanation is bull. Unlike sight, the auditory system doesn't work cross-hemispherically. Sound from the right side is carried by the auditory nerve into the right portion of the temporal lobe.
What if it doesn't have to do with which ear is connected to what side of the brain but it is instead a visual cue (which is brain-sided) being picked up upon? If I stando to your right to talk to you, I might be having a psychological impact rather than a mechanical one.
What irritates me about so many of these types of research is that they seem to assume as a given that only because they concentrate in one part of a system this narrow focus automagically translates into isolation of the subject. How can you account for any other influences? Even if the subject is blind-folded, if the examiner is close enough the subject could still perceive the body heat. What if they wear ear phones with the balance tilted to the right or left, how do you account for the psychological factor of hearing on your preferred side over a purely mechanical explanation?
I think the phenomenon is interesting and worth studying, but the conclusion seems pretty suspect IMHO.
Riiiight... (Score:3, Insightful)
The method wasn't very scientificy, sample size was small and they skewed the results by "knowing" what kind of results they want.
I would have invented way more elaborate scheme to get an excuse to blow my grant money to nightclubbin
Re:Not enough data (Score:4, Insightful)
Well! Get on the case boobs!
Re:Not enough data (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Unconvinced (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I don't listen to anyone... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, if you're a female, it doesn't matter which ear you talk into as long as you press your breasts into my arm when you make the request.
Re:I don't listen to anyone... (Score:1, Insightful)