WEBVTT - Why Is It So Hard to Remember What Day It Is?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbon. Here in the early part of

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<v Speaker 1>the twenty first century, psychologist Dr David A. Ellis performed

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<v Speaker 1>possibly the shortest experiment in the history of the social sciences.

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<v Speaker 1>He gathered sixty randomly selected test subjects, invited them into

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<v Speaker 1>his office one by one, and asked them this fateful question,

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<v Speaker 1>what day is today? That's it? Thank you, please sign

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<v Speaker 1>the release form on the way out. Done so, what

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<v Speaker 1>could Ellis possibly learn from asking people the day of

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<v Speaker 1>the week? A heck of a lot, as it turns out.

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<v Speaker 1>Using this simple experiment and others, Ellis was trying to

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<v Speaker 1>decode the complex psychology of time, and even to help

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<v Speaker 1>answer the age old question wait is it Wednesday or Thursday?

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<v Speaker 1>Because although each week day is twenty four hours long,

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<v Speaker 1>they're far from equal from a psychological standpoint. We spoke

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<v Speaker 1>with Elis via phone back in from the University of

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<v Speaker 1>Lincoln in the UK. He said, when you ask people

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<v Speaker 1>about Monday and Friday, they have a lot to tell you,

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<v Speaker 1>and those words evoke very strong emotions, whereas when you

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<v Speaker 1>ask them about the middling days, people tend to draw

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<v Speaker 1>a blank. Asked to free associate about Monday, Ellis's test

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<v Speaker 1>subjects wrote strongly negative words like tired, boring, early, and rubbish,

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<v Speaker 1>it being the UK after all, and when asked to

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<v Speaker 1>describe Friday, they came up with wildly positive words like fun, friends, party,

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<v Speaker 1>and someone unexpectedly bacon. When asked about the rest of

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<v Speaker 1>the week, people struggled to come up with anything at all. Tuesday,

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<v Speaker 1>for some is like a Monday hangover, long and busy

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<v Speaker 1>topped the list, but the description most people came up

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<v Speaker 1>with for Wednesday was simply middle. There are even a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more songs about Mondays and Fridays than other days

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<v Speaker 1>of the week. Consider New Orders, Blue Monday, The Mamas

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<v Speaker 1>and the Papa's Monday, Monday, The Bengals, Manic Monday, The

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<v Speaker 1>Cures Friday, I'm in Love, Katie Perry's Last Friday Night,

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<v Speaker 1>Rascal Flats Friday. Though, of course, let's not discount the

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<v Speaker 1>midweek brilliance of the Rolling Stones, Ruby Tuesday. But Ellis

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<v Speaker 1>pointed out that there can be serious unintended consequences to

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<v Speaker 1>these strong and weak psychological associations with certain days of

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<v Speaker 1>the week. He explained suicide rates are higher at the

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<v Speaker 1>start of the week, for example, and stocks perform better

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<v Speaker 1>on Friday. Missed medical appointments also peak at the start

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<v Speaker 1>of the week in the United States. These can be

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<v Speaker 1>a costly inconvenience for doctors and patients, but they can

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<v Speaker 1>be costly to the whole community for state run health

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<v Speaker 1>systems like in the UK. The better we understand the

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<v Speaker 1>psychological biases toward different days of the week, Ellis says,

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<v Speaker 1>the better weekend tailor interventions and design subtle nudges, it

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<v Speaker 1>might have significant societal payoff. In a previous study, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>Ellis found that working people are much more likely to

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<v Speaker 1>miss Monday doctor's appointments than retirees. The health system could

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<v Speaker 1>save loads of money by booking retirees at the beginning

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<v Speaker 1>of the week and US working stiffs on Fridays, Which

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<v Speaker 1>brings us back to the original question what days it today?

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<v Speaker 1>When Alice asked that question, he timed each subject's response

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<v Speaker 1>on Mondays and Fridays. He discovered people gave the correct

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<v Speaker 1>answer twice as fast as people asked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,

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<v Speaker 1>and Thursdays. Some midweek folks couldn't think of the day

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<v Speaker 1>at all. Given the strong if opposing psychological associations with

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<v Speaker 1>Monday and Friday. It's not surprising that people are more

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<v Speaker 1>aware of those days. It seems the rest of the

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<v Speaker 1>work week can get lost in the shuffle. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Or More on this and lots of other timely topics,

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