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The Reality Distortion Field Is Real

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 18, @07:09PM
from the roped-tied-and-branded dept.
Businesses Apple
TimeZone writes "Apparently, even subliminal exposure to the Apple logo can make you 'think different.' Researchers at Duke University subjected participants to subliminal images of the iconic Apple and IBM logos (during what subjects thought was a visual acuity test), and those who were shown the Apple logo generated more creative ideas after the test than did those who were shown the IBM logo. In a second test, subjects exposed to the Disney logo acted more honestly than those who saw an E! Channel logo." Here's a preprint of the paper (PDF) due for publication in the Journal of Consumer Research.

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Firehose:Reality Distortion Field Exists! by TimeZone (658837)
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  • Yeah, but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by DrunkenTerror (561616) on Tuesday March 18, @07:11PM (#22789566) Homepage Journal
    Nobody ever got fired after staring at the IBM logo.

  • So.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Creepy Crawler (680178) on Tuesday March 18, @07:11PM (#22789570)
    What does the "Microsoft" logo do to you (down there)?

  • Logos (Score:5, Funny)

    by doctortommy (1257868) on Tuesday March 18, @07:15PM (#22789614)
    ...and the Microsoft logo caused test subjects to experience extreme confusion and frustration.

  • Other logos (Score:5, Funny)

    by slashdotlurker (1113853) on Tuesday March 18, @07:17PM (#22789628)
    Microsoft - made you more likely to be cruel to little animals
    Tux - made you grown a long beard and lose all your friends
    Novell - made you betray your friends
    Democrat donkey - made you find new ways to destroy yourself
    Republican elephant - made you question the value of an education

    What is next ?

    "Judge, I crashed my car because I stared at a Ferrari logo for too long." ?

  • Yaa! CreativIty can be measured now! (Score:5, Funny)

    by mikeabbott420 (744514) on Tuesday March 18, @07:19PM (#22789652) Journal
    Or maybe this study is a steaming pile of platypus dung. See that there? Platypus Dung? that's creativity baby!

  • I knew it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by vodevil (856500) on Tuesday March 18, @07:20PM (#22789672) Homepage
    I see my apple logo on my laptop all the time. People always tell me I'm full of shit, but I always explain that I'm full of great ideas. Now I have proof that I'm the one that's right, and they're full of shit.

  • RDF, not in the logos! (Score:5, Funny)

    by countSudoku() (1047544) on Tuesday March 18, @07:20PM (#22789676) Homepage
    The RDF emanates from The Steve, not the Apple logo. Unless, of course, The Steve laid hands upon the device bearing the logo. It's all right in here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field [wikipedia.org]

  • Ain't That True (Score:5, Funny)

    by pandrijeczko (588093) on Tuesday March 18, @07:20PM (#22789682)
    Apparently, even subliminal exposure to the Apple logo can make you 'think different.'

    Hence the reason all the new Mac users immediately go out and buy extra big designer tables for their lounges and a few African tribal relics to display in their hallways.

    It also makes them caffeine-addicted hermits since I usually see solitary Mac users sat in the darkest corners of Starbucks with a large chocca-flocca-socca-moccachino in front of them. And I know they're Mac users because no matter where I sit, they always make sure I can see the little logo.

  • and the playboy bunny logo... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bagboy (630125) <neo@nOSpAm.arctic.net> on Tuesday March 18, @07:21PM (#22789700)
    has what reaction?

  • Windows logo? (Score:5, Funny)

    by rice_burners_suck (243660) on Tuesday March 18, @07:31PM (#22789810) Journal
    By extrapolating these results, I assume that those shown a Windows logo got into their car, drove extremely slowly while telling those behind them to "please wait," and then crashed into a telephone pole due to a driver problem.

  • Apple is just the new Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Heembo (916647) on Tuesday March 18, @07:41PM (#22789900) Journal
    Apple is the new Microsoft, Microsoft is the new IBM.

  • It's a refleciton of pre-test scores (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ieshan (409693) <ieshan&gmail,com> on Tuesday March 18, @07:55PM (#22790050) Homepage Journal
    The research is neat, but essentially what they're showing is that they can validate pre-test measures of "creativity" and "honesty" using a priming technique.

    They chose the brands that they chose because Apple was rated as more creative a brand than IBM in pre-test:

    "As predicted, there was a significant difference in the extent to
    which Apple and IBM were perceived to be creative, t(23) = -4.91, p .001, with Apple receiving
    higher ratings (M = 7.62, SD = 1.23) than IBM (M = 4.17, SD = 2.12). Thus, pilot tests confirmed that in
    our college sample, Apple is believed to be more creative than is IBM. IBM, it is important to note, is
    not seen as particularly creative or uncreative; it is rated at approximately the mid-point of the scale."

    And because Disney is rated as being more "honest" than E!:
    "As predicted, there was a significant difference in the extent to
    which Apple and IBM were perceived to be creative, t(23) = -4.91, p .001, with Apple receiving
    higher ratings (M = 7.62, SD = 1.23) than IBM (M = 4.17, SD = 2.12). Thus, pilot tests confirmed that in
    our college sample, Apple is believed to be more creative than is IBM. IBM, it is important to note, is
    not seen as particularly creative or uncreative; it is rated at approximately the mid-point of the scale."

    It's not showing that people subliminally exposed to the Apple logo - regardless of prior beliefs - will be spontaneously more creative. It's showing that people spontaneously exposed to things that they (at least, a similar sample) feel reflect creativity will prime, behaviorally, creativity.

    It doesn't mean that people who work with Apple are more productive, or that people need to buy Apple to be creative. It's a neat implementation of priming on future behavior, but it's really showing that specific brands are associated with specific traits (and that those specific traits prime actions).

  • Experiment 1 is flawed.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ardeaem (625311) on Tuesday March 18, @08:13PM (#22790228)
    As a researcher doing research in the field of subliminal perception, I read their preprint with interest. However, their experiment 1 is flawed. The did the IBM and Apple priming tasks on DIFFERENT DAYS. Which days, they do not say, but it is likely that there are differences in days of the week with respect to how "creative" people are. In my research, we fail to detect any subliminal effects of the type discussed here - the literature is full of methodological problems. I suspect their effect is a methodological artifact, as well.

    They don't mention whether exps 2 and 3 were done on different days, but given that they did it for expt 1, they probably did for 2 and 3 too.

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