Buzz
We hope that many of our readers still believe that, deep down, humanity is inherently good. We share that perspective, but every so often, researchers uncover findings that highlight unsettling truths about our species. For example:
10. People Value Dogs More Than Charity
If you came across a lost wallet packed with cash, would you return it? That’s the intriguing question researchers in Edinburgh sought to answer, but with a twist. To make the experiment more captivating, they scattered numerous wallets around the city, each containing the address of a fictional owner who had lost it. Additionally, the researchers included a photo inside the wallet to determine what factors would most likely lead to the wallet being returned.
The images varied from newborn babies to charming puppies and sweet elderly couples. To ensure scientific accuracy, some control wallets were also included, which contained no pictures, as well as a few wallets with proof that the owner frequently donated to charity.
The findings were widely reported, with the media stating that placing a baby picture in your wallet was the most effective way to encourage strangers to return it. However, the study also revealed that wallets showing evidence of charitable donations were returned less frequently than all others, except for the control wallets that contained nothing.
Wallets indicating that the owner supported charity were returned in only twenty percent of cases, while those with a picture of a dog had a return rate of fifty-three percent. In comparison, the control wallets containing only money were returned fifteen percent of the time. According to this data, you’re thirty-three percent more likely to have your wallet returned if it shows you’re a dog lover rather than a charity supporter. And speaking of charity:
9. We Donate to Charity to Satisfy Ourselves
Donating to charity is generally a positive act, unless the charity supports something questionable like eugenics. But for the most part, reaching into your pocket to contribute to a worthy cause is something deserving of praise.
However, when researchers at the University of Kent set out to explore what motivates people to donate to charity, their findings were unexpected. They discovered that people’s charitable donations were often driven by their personal opinions and preferences. For instance, one individual donated to dog-related charities simply because they disliked cats.
The study also revealed that individuals tended to justify their decision not to contribute to a worthy cause simply because it conflicted with their personal beliefs, even if those beliefs were not well-informed. One interviewee refused to donate money to victims of the Sri Lankan Tsunami, for example, because they believed such donations would 'support Mugabe and people like that.'
While charitable giving is generally a good deed, it’s a bit discouraging to realize that one of the most altruistic actions a person can take is often swayed by personal interests and views.
8. People Intentionally Avoid Hitting Animals
Chances are, you’ll walk by someone on any given day who would deliberately run over an animal on the side of the road. In an experiment by Mark Rober, a NASA engineer, rubber snakes, tarantulas, and turtles were placed along the highway just to observe what would happen. Apparently, NASA had some free time that day.
Rober discovered that out of one thousand passing cars, sixty actually swerved off the road to hit the rubber animals. The drivers consciously made the decision to go beyond the roadside to crush the rubber creatures. Unsurprisingly, eighty-nine percent of these instances involved SUVs.
On the other hand, a fair number of people did stop in an attempt to assist the animals. However, this doesn’t change the fact that when confronted with a harmless snake just going about its day, over one in twenty people chose to end its life, even risking their own in the process.
7. Safety Isn’t Just About Numbers
The bystander effect, previously discussed on Mytour, is so powerful that we’ll even risk our own lives to adhere to it.
In an experiment conducted by researchers from Columbia and New York Universities, participants were placed in a room where they believed they had to complete a questionnaire. After a set period, thick smoke was pumped into the room. Surprisingly, despite the very real danger of fire, the more people in the room, the less likely anyone was to report the smoke.
In some instances, people continued to fill out their questionnaires, even as the smoke caused them to cough and tear up. When asked why they didn’t speak up, many claimed it probably wasn’t a fire, with some even assuming the smoke was 'truth gas.'
6. Paying Volunteers Makes Them Work Less
Volunteering, like charity, is an act that deserves recognition. But it seems that money isn't the right way to reward it.
Researchers tested how willing people were to volunteer their time for a cause when offered monetary compensation. Surprisingly, when a financial incentive was introduced, the amount of time people volunteered dropped significantly.
While this suggests that people are more inclined to do good deeds when there's no financial incentive, it also highlights that organizations' ability to boost volunteer numbers is largely dependent on people's personal motivation to volunteer. Referencing the second item on this list should explain why that’s problematic.
5. We Assume That Strangers Are Male
Gender inequality is a widely discussed issue, and if you’re reading this online, you’re probably already familiar with how polarizing it can be. Despite widespread awareness of sexism, it seems that gender bias is so deeply ingrained in our thinking that we often assume an unfamiliar figure is male—regardless of what the actual evidence suggests.
An experiment conducted last year revealed that when shown computer-generated images of human bodies, most people assumed these images represented a man—even if the depicted body or silhouette was female.
If you’re questioning the significance of this, think about how often God—who is supposed to transcend human imagination—is depicted as male. Or consider how many times you’ve presumed a doctor would be a man. Our tendency to automatically identify figures as male helps explain these assumptions, presenting a challenge for those advocating for gender equality.
4. We’re Easily Persuaded By Authority
If you’re familiar with Milgram’s experiments, you probably know the concept of obedience to authority.
What’s truly shocking is how little authority it takes to convince people to do harmful things. In one of Milgram’s most famous experiments, participants were asked to administer small electric shocks to another person remotely as part of a study. As the voltage increased, the person being 'shocked'—who had agreed to participate—began begging for the experiment to stop.
The participants expressed concern for the safety of the person they were shocking, but all it took to keep them going was the presence of a man in a lab coat.
If you’re wondering whether this strange obedience is limited to men in lab coats, it’s not: scammers in the UK informally tested the idea of social compliance and discovered that posing as an authority figure can be as simple as wearing a fluorescent jacket.
3. We Feel Less Empathy For Other Races
In an Italian study on pain perception, both black and white participants watched a short video of hands being pricked with needles while their brain activity and heart rates were monitored. The hands shown were either black or white.
The study revealed that participants from both racial groups reacted more intensely when they saw a hand of their own race being pricked. To ensure participants weren't simply imagining their own hands, clips of a purple hand being pricked were also shown. Interestingly, both black and white participants displayed a stronger emotional response to the pricking of the purple hand than to the hand of a person from a different race.
While the primary goal of the experiment was to explore whether doctors struggle to recognize pain in patients of a different race, it inadvertently uncovered that we unconsciously differentiate between races in our emotional reactions.
2. We Lie and Cheat When We Feel Bad
When we are feeling down or have low self-esteem, we tend to engage in dishonest behavior—or at the very least, we find it easier to justify our actions.
One well-known experiment that supports this idea involved giving students a personality test designed to boost their self-esteem. Afterward, they were given an opportunity to cheat another student to earn money.
The results showed that students who received positive feedback on their personality test were far less likely to cheat compared to those who were told they were dull. This underscores how insults online can be even more damaging than such negative feedback.
What was behind this correlation? The research concluded that it stemmed from what they called 'self-esteem dissonance.' Simply put, a person with a high self-regard found it more difficult to justify unethical actions because they conflicted more deeply with how they saw themselves. It's much easier to excuse lying when you believe that no one cares about your actions.
1. We’re Not Born Equal
'Practice makes perfect' is a time-honored phrase. But in 2013, an experiment challenged whether this idea actually holds up—and it turns out, it doesn’t.
In an experiment designed to assess how quickly individuals could master skills like chess and music, it was revealed that thousands of hours of practice didn’t guarantee expertise. In other words, practice alone isn’t enough to fully acquire a skill; innate talent and natural ability play a far more significant role than many of us tend to believe.
While the researchers emphasized that practice can certainly help someone become quite skilled at a particular task, the gap between being 'good' and being 'great' isn't simply about how much you practice. It comes down to whether or not you have a natural talent or inclination for that skill. Consider what this implies: many of the kids out there, practicing guitar in hopes of matching their idols, may never reach that goal.
