Understanding Perception and Manipulation

Despite what you might be thinking,

these two circles are not equal.

I repeat, these two circles are not equal.

One is in fact larger than the other.

What I need you to do is determine which one that is.

So, please raise your hand if you

believe the blue circle is larger than the red. Alright.

Please raise your hand if you believe the red circle is larger than the blue.

Alright, very good.

Now, before I said anything about these two circles, what was your first instinct?

Equal, right? Because they look equal. And the reason why they look equal is

because in fact they are equal. These two circles are identical. Yet, I got

just about every one of you to raise your hand and say that they're not.

So, what did we learn?

That you can be manipulated like that to believe in something

that goes against your natural instincts.

Just imagine, just imagine as a child you're taught that the blue circle is larger

than the red. If you say it enough times, you convince yourself that's the truth.

If you're told the lie enough times, it becomes part of your reality.

And if enough people

are taught that lie, that the blue circle is larger than the red,

well now it becomes part of the culture.

And if that culture then passes that misinformation along to the next generation,

well now it becomes tradition.