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Yesterday The Headcase discussed the financial roots of marital strife. Couples who do find a way to make the relationship work might consider this next study before deciding whether to name their child Adam or Frank.
In a recent issue of British Journal of Educational Psychology (full paper free), psychologists from the University of Missouri report that people unconsciously exposed to the letter A subsequently performed better on verbal intelligence tasks relative to those exposed to the letter F.
Previous work has shown that non-conscious cues—from stereotypes to simple colors—can influence cognitive performance. Given the implicit connotations of the letters A and F in test settings, the Missouri researchers wondered whether merely seeing these letters could bolster or hinder achievement, respectively.
In the first of three experiments, the researchers gave 23 participants an analogy test. Though each person received the same test, they were issued different cover sheets placing them into seemingly innocuous "Test Bank" groups. Some were given Test Bank ID: A, others Test Bank ID: F, with the letter printed in unavoidable 22-point font. The participants later had to recall their test bank group, proving their "random" letter had imprinted itself on their consciousness.
Sure enough, those in the A-group achieved statistically significant higher scores than those in the F-group. A second test not only confirmed the finding but showed that those issued a neutral letter, J, performed in between the A- and F-groups. A third, larger experiment once again found the same results, leading the authors to conclude:
... evaluative letters are ubiquitous in academic settings, and it appears that certain originally innocuous letters may acquire evaluative meanings that can influence a person's performance—even before performance begins, and even outside of conscious awareness.
The authors go so far as to advise teachers against the use of supposedly meaningless identifications with the letter F, such as test groupings, "in order to avoid biasing the assessment of current academic achievement":
Students designated as 'student F' or students receiving 'Test Form F' may be at an unfair disadvantage.
Of course this makes no difference to The Headcase, who is naming his first son Sue:
(Here's the link, if the embed doesn't work)
For some interesting new insights into the science of learning, check out a recent feature story of mine.
(Flickr image Leo Reynolds)
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