WEBVTT - Do Lucky Charms Really Work? (Plus, other ways to get the upper hand) 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:06.200 Welcome to Part Time Genius, the production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:13.880 I guess what mego with that? Well, all right, so 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.000 I was reading up this week on strange advantages that 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.200 certain people have. You know, we're always trying to get 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.520 a leg up on people super competitive, as our listeners 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.480 may know. But it turns out that left handed people 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.520 have a pretty distinct advantage. Like when it comes to 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.280 one on one sports. Do you take boxing, tennis, fencing, 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.760 even pitching a baseball If it involves taking aim at 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.720 an opponent, lefties have a little bit of an edge. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.599 And if you look at professional sports, the numbers actually 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.360 bear this out. For instance, back in two thousand seventeen, 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.960 one third of Major League baseball players were left handed. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.760 That's kind of crazy, isn't it, as well as of 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:55.680 the top ranking boxers and of the top ranking fencers. Meanwhile, 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.280 it's a completely different story for the more team oriented 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.720 sports like basketball or football. So why do you think 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:03.920 that is? Well, it ultimately comes down to how rare 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.440 lefties are. It's estimated that only ten perent of the 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.920 people in the world are left handed. That means that 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.120 if you're a right handed tennis player, for example, you've 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.800 probably only ever gone up against other right handed players, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.520 and the same is true for left handed players too. 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:21.399 Right like of the world is right handed, then left 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:24.800 handed players are also mostly squaring off with right e's. 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.160 This was something I really didn't think about. So the 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.240 result is that when a left handed player goes up 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:31.840 against the right handed one is just another day at 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.039 the office. Same but that's not the case for a 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.720 right handed player. The right handers don't really know what 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.320 to expect, and that makes it easier for them to 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.039 be caught off guard. It makes sense, like when you 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:43.920 think about it. Playing baseball as a kid, if you 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.080 saw a lefty throwing to you like it was, it 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.400 just looked so strangely. It's almost like when a boxer throws, 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.120 I mean left hook, you know that old south pas surprise. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.440 I don't know if that's a real boxing well, just 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:59.280 like when you were a big boxer as a kid 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.360 and left but weirdly enough, some researchers think the main 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.600 reason why left handed trade is still around today is 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.560 because it's always granted this element of surprise and combat. 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:12.919 For example, there was a study in two thousand five 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.440 where researchers looked at the remains of primitive societies and 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.040 made a breakdown of how many people were left handed 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.720 and how many were right handed, And amazingly, they found 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.480 that about three percent of the population was left handed 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.080 in the more peaceful societies, but a whopping twenty seven 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.480 percent were left handed and the more warlike Yeah. So, 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.959 in other words, think twice if you've ever challenged the 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:38.000 left handed boxer, Historically speaking, it probably isn't gonna go 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.000 so well for you. Well, I'm not sure i'd fear 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:46.400 that much better against right handed boxes that. There's plenty 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.720 more where that came from, because today's show is all 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:52.560 about the unusual advantages that everyday people enjoy, from the 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.960 high social standing of tall people to the surprising success 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.920 rate behind your lucky rabbit's foot. There's all sorts of 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.240 ways to get the upper hand in life, even if 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:25.359 you aren't left handed. So let's dive in. H he 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.919 their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.119 Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.320 Man Guesh Ticketer and on the other side of that 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:36.120 soundproof glass working the soundboard with his left hand. Today 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.880 Impress that is our brilliant producer Lowell, and I should 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.000 say that law is not, in fact left handed, so 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:47.000 this is something at least somewhat notable. So anyway, Mango, 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:48.920 where do you want to start? Yeah, and we've never 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:53.440 faced a left handed producer before, so I um, I 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.400 actually do want to stick with actual sports and talking 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:57.800 about something I had always wondered about until this week, 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.560 and that's whether or not home field advantages a real thing, 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.160 Like does the location of a game factor into an 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.840 athlete's performance or do teams play the same whether they're 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:07.920 on their own turf or not? What? It's kind of 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.200 an age old question, and if I had to guess, 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:12.760 I'd say there's at least some truth to it. I mean, 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:16.279 I know some sports leagues have regulations to ensure that 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.040 playing fields are mostly the same from place to place, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.960 but there's still the psychological element of it all, Like 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.479 you have to figure players would be more at ease 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.880 in the place that they're used to playing. Yeah, I mean, 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.280 in the world the bathrooms are the best places to 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.039 get nachos. The way team is not going to know 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.480 any of that, but it's very, very true. I love 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.880 that your conception of home field advantages. Knowing where to 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:41.039 find that the tastiest snacks. But you're right about home 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.480 field advantage being a real thing, and and a good 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.200 deal of why that is does have to do with psychology. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.280 So first I want to give a little bit of background. Um, 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.520 there have been a bunch of studies into home field 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.360 advantage over the years, covering a wide variety of different sports, 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.320 and the results have been shockingly consistent, like the home 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:00.400 team wins more games away than away teams, and not 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.840 by small margin either. In two ten, as psychologist named 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.960 Jeremy Jamison put together a review of all the different 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.320 home field advantage studies out there, and based on the 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.920 combined data, it concluded that a home team will win 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.839 roughly six of all its games its place. That suks 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:16.560 a little bit higher than that I would have guessed. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.360 So what's actually fueling that advantage, like you said, has 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.680 something to do with the psychology of the players, that's right. 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.400 So part of it goes back to what you allude 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.080 to earlier, like the players familiarity with where they're playing, 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.320 kind of feeling at ease in this environment. It tends 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:31.680 to contribute a lot to the home field advantage. In fact, 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.919 according to one study, if a team moves into a 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.040 new home stadium, it'll have a weaker home field advantage 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.400 until the players get acclimated to the new space. Oh 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.360 that's interesting. So so you're feeling at home in your 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.520 home field at some point. So what else is a factor? 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:47.120 The next one is something I know we can both 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.320 relate to, and and that's travel fatigue. Like, I don't 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:51.920 travel as much as you do, but it can get 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:54.360 pretty exhausting trying to adjust to new cities and time 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.600 zones and all the while taking meetings and missing home. 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.839 But you know, imagine all of that except in between flights, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.200 you play hours and hours of tackle football in front 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.440 of like thousands of screaming fans. Like jet like suddenly 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.880 becomes like a million times more tiring. Yeah, yeah, I 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:11.800 do kind of want somebody to tackle you before our 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.160 next meete, just to see for ourselves, Like yeah, they 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.520 we gotta we gotta live by example here. But all right, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.719 So you're saying there's a link between how far a 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.360 team travels and how well they play against the home 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.360 team competitors. Yeah, it seems like the further team has 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.440 to travel, the bigger the advantage for the home team, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.880 and the last factor at play kind of goes along 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.160 with that travel component, because the other downside for the 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:36.560 way team is that it can't bring its fan base along. 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.400 Like a crowd's behavior has a major impact on how 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.440 well the players perform. You and I know this from 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.800 going to Duke and and having that whole advantage there. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.320 But you know, at an away game, most of the 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.400 people in the crowd will be rooting for the home team. 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.240 Yeah yeah, And and that obviously gives the home team 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.159 a little morale boost, but imagine it also deflates the 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.760 away team, Like it can't be a great feeling to 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.080 hear a stadium full of people cheering for the other 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.560 guy or against to you. But you know, all the 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.320 stuff we've mentioned, the crowd, the field, the travel time, 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.320 all of that factors into the psychological state of the players, 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.560 and that positive mindset is really the biggest contributor to 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.600 home field advantage. If all the players are feeling motivated 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.040 and upbeat about the conditions of the game, that's likely 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:17.960 to show up in their performance. Yeah, I mean it 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.120 makes sense, but I'm still wondering, like if this advantage 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.280 is the same from sport to sport. Like I know 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.760 you said that studies have looked at a wide range 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.680 of different sports, but we're some sports better for the 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.960 home team than others Or was it always pretty much 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.800 the same degree of advantage? Yeah, so I wondered about 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:35.840 that too, and it seems like it really does very 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:38.640 depending on the sport. For example, there's a sports author 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.360 named John Bois who took three years worth of win 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.600 and lost data and he took it from four different 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.760 pro leagues, so hockey, baseball, football, and basketball. Then he 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.080 extrapolated how each of the different win counts would have 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.040 been affected if the teams had played all of their 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.720 games at home, so like no away games at all. 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.760 And what he found was that the NHL teams and 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.640 MLB teams would have experienced the smallest boost from the 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.160 home field advantage of all the leagues. They would have 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.120 won each a little shy of I guess five and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.880 a half percent more games than they actually did, which 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.800 is still nothing is sneeze at, particularly if you've got 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.040 money riding on those games. But the NFL teams would 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.920 have seen the second biggest boost, about six point four percent, 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:18.520 and then NBA teams would have seen the biggest boost 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.320 by far if they had played all of their games 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.360 at home for a three year period, they would have 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.440 won ten percent more games than they actually do. You know, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.280 I think about this in in football. I feel like 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.520 it makes sense because you think about the intensity of 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.440 the cheering when the offense is trying to call plays 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.679 or whatever like whatever they do in that scenario, right, 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:38.520 and it's hard for them to hear each other, and 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.840 it seems like you could get them rattled. But do 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.079 we know why the advantage would be so much greater 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.080 for NBA teams, Well, we don't, but I guess one 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:48.920 of the things that Bo has pointed out was that 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.880 the playing dimensions of a basketball court don't really very 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.200 like they do in other sports such as baseball, and 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:55.959 and on top of that, like NBA games are all 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.200 played inside, so weather is never a factor. So, in 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:01.559 other words, the hometown, crowd and trial factors are still 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.319 in play for NBA teams, but the environmental factor might 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.199 not play his large role in in the players mindsets 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:11.040 as as it does in baseball or even football. All right, Well, 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.360 believe it or not, home field advantage isn't the only 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.640 kind of location based benefit in the sports world. There's 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.959 also something I was reading about this week called small 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:21.880 town advantage, and the gist of this is that people 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.400 who grew up in a small town they like fifty 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.560 thou people or under, they will have a higher chance 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.600 of becoming a professional athlete than someone for a more 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.280 populated city or town. That's something I've not seen before, 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:35.840 and the numbers behind this are actually pretty remarkable. So 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.959 there was this two thousand seventeen article in Pacific Standard 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.440 that only about of the u S population lives in 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.800 a town with under fifty thou people. Yet despite that, 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.360 nearly half of all NFL and p g A players 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.520 are from towns that size, and the same trends present 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.480 to a slightly lesser degree in other sports too. That's 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.520 I think it's like NHL players somewhere around that same 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:03.079 staff or Major League Baseball players come from towns fewer 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:05.840 than fifty thousand, and for the NBA, I think it's 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.079 it's twenty eight percent, So pretty interesting. That's pretty crazy, 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.480 especially since you think the opposite would be true, right, 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.480 like the larger cities would have access to more equipment, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:19.080 maybe more competition, and more opportunities for players to be discovered. Yeah, 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.360 I mean, the truth is it's tough to pinpoint why 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.760 small towns make such great incubators for pro athletes. I mean, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.480 it could be there's something unique about the atmosphere of 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.400 small towns that make it particularly conducive to athletic development. 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.840 The close knit community spirit, or the level of importance 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.600 that rural areas tend to place on sports. Maybe, But 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.640 whatever first got the trend rolling, it's kind of become 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.000 a self perpetuating cycle at this point. What do you 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.319 mean by that, Well, small town residents tend to know 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.559 how many legends their areas have produced, like Bo Jacks. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:52.520 I mean, how many times a day do I remind 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.679 you that Bo Jackson came from the Birmingham area, right, 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.240 you know, to Wayne Gretzky. And that makes the dream 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:00.160 of making it to the big league seem all the 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.320 more attainable for the next crop of players. And it 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.400 is something that makes sense. So if somebody grew up 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.280 in your neighborhood and you see them turn pro, then 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.000 it stands the reason that maybe you could too. Yeah, 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.400 you know, I used to live in Greenville and North 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.120 Carolina and and Kinston was right next door. And the 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.040 number of star basketball players and football players that will 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:23.000 come out of is pretty remarkable. Um, but not Jackson, No, 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.840 not win Gretzky. But you know, there's one more sports 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:28.880 advantage I wanted to talk about, and that's the fact 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.880 that being short can actually give players a big advantage 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.800 in soccer. It's it's funny, but one of our friends 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.920 kids learned from his doctor that he might be you know, 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.640 six foot or whatever like these projections, and he was 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.000 totally depressed because he would He was hoping he'd be 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.640 like five seven, like Messy or five eight, which is 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:47.920 just funny to think about, especially for someone like me. 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.880 But you know, it's kind of counterintuitive since bigger is 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:53.840 usually better when it comes to sports. But in the 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.559 case of soccer, being tall is only helpful if you're 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.240 a defender or a goalie. For the other positions like 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.200 forwards and fielders, the edge goes to the shorter players. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.280 So why is that the main reason is that shorter 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.040 players tend to have better control of their limbs, which 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.520 allows them to change direction faster than a tall player could. Uh. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.080 That kind of nimbleness really keeps defenders on their toes 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.000 and and makes it harder to box in a short 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.320 opponent or to anticipate their movements. But that's not the 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.880 only advantage, you know. According to The Atlantic, studies have 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.600 shown that tall players are called for fouls more frequently 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.120 than shorter players. That could just be that the referees 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.480 are associating height with aggression, or maybe the longer limbs 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.199 are more visible. But you know, I'm not sure exactly 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.960 what the reason is, but but tall folks definitely get 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.480 carded more. Yeah, and I know in other sports like basketball, 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.880 it's obviously an advantage overall to be tall. But it 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.120 is also interesting to watch, you know, when you used 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.040 to watch guys like Shack play and they could just 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.640 get hammered all day long and nobody would call them. 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.000 A lot of times Everson will pull someone down and 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.560 get called exactly exactly. It's so bizarre to to look 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.760 at these stats, but you know, it's interesting to see 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.800 how different levels of influence people can have over these advantages. 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.840 Like with home field advantage, it kind of comes down 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.679 to the player's mindset and how they respond to things 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.040 outside their control. And with the small town advantage, like 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.960 that's something people could actually seek out if they were 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.480 so inclined, Like if you had a young kid that 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:18.800 wants to be a pro football player, you could move 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.719 to a small town and theoretically they could reap the 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.400 advantage of that. But now we're getting into stuff like 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.520 height and the social stigma surrounding height, and those are 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.760 things that nobody really has much say in. You know, Yeah, 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:32.520 that seems like a good distinction to make, and why 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.480 don't we check out some of those advantages. Right after 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:50.719 this break, you're listening to part Time Genius and we're 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.240 talking about some of the lesser known advantages that certain 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.959 groups of people enjoy. And since we closed out the 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.440 last segment with a short person perk, I think it's 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.240 only fair we balance out and go for for one 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.360 for the tall people out there. So here we go. 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.760 Tall people make more money than short people. That's it, 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.320 end the story. So I hate this already, but I 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:11.000 feel like you need to explain a little bit. Well. 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.600 According to a two thousand fifteen study published in the 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.760 Journal of Human Capital, salary rates trend upward right along 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:21.080 with height in most Western countries, so much so that 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:24.040 if one employee is four or five inches taller than another, 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.880 the taller person would make anywhere between nine and fifteen 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.400 percent more than the short who imagine being a seventh 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.000 fetter would be so rich. But put another way, an 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.040 extra inch of height could be worth as much as 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:40.120 eight hundred dollars per year in additional earnings. Match that 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.120 to inflation rates, track it over thirty years, and you're 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.840 looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra income 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:50.560 just for being tall. So I guess, setting aside the 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.320 sheer injustice of this tall I'm curious to hear what's 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.480 driving this because I feel like this would have made 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.440 sense like centuries ago, right when most of the jobs 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.400 relied on size or strength or whatever. But it seems 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.360 strange that the trend would continue in an era of 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.560 like the desk job, right, like maybe someone who's taller 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.760 can reach the high shelf in the break room or 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.600 something that height doesn't really help with Excel sheets, well, 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.160 it doesn't make a lot of sense on paper. And 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.080 you know, one theory is that employers aren't paying strictly 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.480 based on height. Instead, it's that taller people are landing 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.680 higher paying jobs because their height lends them to more 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.600 self confidence or better social skills, which allows them to 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.920 climb the pay ladder faster. Anyway, if you're angling for 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.680 a raise at work, adding some lists to your shoes 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:38.240 might actually help. So think about that. I'm sure that's 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:43.000 how Tom Cruise got that big payday, right. So, sticking 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.000 with our theme of things that are beyond our control, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.440 here's another bombshell. I bet you never would have guessed 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:52.480 their advantages to being attractive. What you don't say, mango? 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.400 Come on. So what's funny about this is that even 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.480 scientists benefit from this. So, according to new research from 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.000 the University of Essex and the Universe Said Cambridge, the 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.760 way that a scientist looks affects the level of interest 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.240 in their work and they're perceived credibility. As one of 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.880 the psychologists behind the study explained, this is true because 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.720 quote people partly treat science communication as a form of entertainment, 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.400 where emotional impact in the esthetic appeal are desirable qualities. 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.600 Like it's weird to think society might buy into an 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.120 argument that the world is flat or some other ridiculous 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.320 argument like if the scientist is is just attractive enough. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.160 It sounds a little like that thirty Rock episode where 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.360 John Hamm becomes a doctor and a Tennyson starter and 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.760 like he's horrible at all. These things that people keep 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.040 getting in the past because he's so handsome. But uh, 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.000 I actually clarified this with GiB because I was thinking 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:41.920 the same thing you were, and the link here between 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:46.040 attractiveness and credibility isn't quite what you're thinking. So over 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.920 the course of six studies, researchers were able to show 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.480 that scientists who peer competent, moral, and attractive are more 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.640 likely to garner interest in their work, which isn't a surprise, right, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:59.120 But then the researchers continued writing, quote, the scientists who 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.080 appear competent, in and moral, but who are relatively unattractive 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.000 create a stronger impression of doing high quality research. So 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:08.760 just to get this right, so the public is more 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.280 likely to pay attention to the research of an attractive scientist, 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.280 but less likely to believe what they're saying. Like, is 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.080 that right? Yeah, they're basically like cer no diverge racking. 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.000 But basically, the next time the public needs to be 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.320 informed about a scientific breakthrough, it's probably best to pair 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.320 scientists to give a presentation like an attractive one to 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.080 win the audience's approval, and you know, an ugly one 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.280 to give it credibility. The old Watson and Crick is 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.880 what they call it, I think, so I have no idea. 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.680 That's interesting though, Well, since we're on the subject of scientists, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:41.679 have you ever noticed how we tend to refer to 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.800 the male ones by their surnames, but we call female 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.640 scientists by their full names, Like Darwin is just Darwin. 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.320 But have you ever heard anyone just say Cury like 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.920 it's always Marie Curry, Right, I know it's just making 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.840 a joke about Watson Crick, but like I know Rosalind 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.280 Franklin's full name, but I know one of them is James, 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.360 but I don't know which one. Yeah, I mean, there's 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.840 actually even a name for this bias. It's called surname bias. 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.920 So basically, when we hear someone called by their surname, 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.359 it tends to improve our perception of them. Maybe it 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.119 makes them seem more important or dignified in our minds, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.919 maybe stronger or more imminent or something like that. But 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:19.880 the main problem with this is that we don't wield 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.199 that surname bias fairly so. According to a string of 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.800 recent studies, on average, and regardless of gender, people are 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.679 twice as likely to refer to men by their surnames 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.200 than they are women. And those findings hold true across 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.840 you know, a lot of different professions, whether it's politics, science, literature, 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.760 like the list goes on. So how exactly does this 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.000 advantage play in real life? Like what's the payoff for 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.200 being just being called by your last name? Alright, we're 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:48.440 just going back to the scientists for a minute. There 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:50.600 was a study back in two thousand and seventeen were 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.480 more than five hundred participants were asked to determine who 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.760 among a group of scientists should receive a half million 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.639 dollars science grant. Some of the scientists were referred to 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.920 by or full names and others by their surnames. And 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:04.920 as you can probably guess by what we've been saying, 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:09.679 the participants showed a clear preference for this surname only contenders. 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:12.840 In fact, those candidates were a full fourteen percent more 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:15.960 likely to be recommended for the award. So if that 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.800 same strange advantages cropping up across all these different fields, 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.000 it stands to reason that surname bias is a serious 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.639 contributor to the gender inequality in the workplace. And the 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:28.639 ironic part of this is that you know, the trend 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.639 of using women's full names actually may have started with 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.080 noble intentions as a way of drawing attention to the 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:39.800 presence and the contributions of women, especially in fields traditionally 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.919 associated with men. So the plan, though, it seems to 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.680 have backfired since so many of us have this surname 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.840 bias kind of baked into us. I mean, that's a 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.679 little depressing, but I'm glad we're more aware of it, 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:53.840 and I think I am only going to call Marie 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:57.080 Curry Cury from now on. But why don't we switch 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.040 gears and talk about a few of the more even 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:15.879