Quirkology by Richard Wiseman

Just finished reading a book on the quirky side of human psychology which tackles fun questions like the nature of altruism in mankind, our attachment to astrology, science of coincidences, and if subliminal messages really can sway you to do something without you realizing it.

Well, the answer for the last question is no and yes. No, we are not programmed to bow down to freemasonry or worship satan by subliminal messages that can be heard when you play a line from a song backward. Coca-cola didn't significantly increase its sale by flashing subliminal message on primetime TV. And no, Disney didn't purposely created a sex-crazed generation by naughtily having a castle which looks like penis, a night sky which has stars spelling the word 'sex', and a flash of naked woman in one of the frame of its film. Disney is not responsible for that; we are, being human, a horny bunch of rabbits to begin with.

It takes more than subliminal messages to persuade us, but not that much, apparently. Movies have more effect on us than we would like to believe. Anyways, going into the stories will have to wait because I'll usually get sidetracked and this would be too long of a post.

What I want to know is, where do people go to participate in one of these cool psychological experiment? I want to be part of it! The science of human behavior is fascinating, the reason why I like watching docus on criminals to understand the working of their twisted minds. Whenever I am able to go back to school one day purely for the sake of gaining knowledge, I'll go back and study human behavior. How's that for being rebellious?

So anyways, the book compiles psychological experiments carried out across the world, and guess what Kuala Lumpur made an appearance!....for filling up the bottom three of the most unhelpful country. -.-''

The experiments involved dropping sealed envelopes without stamps around the city to see if people would pick them up and pay the price for a stamp before posting it, having a blind man crossing the road, and dropping pens from pockets to see if people would say anything. Rasanya kalau orang buta yang lintas tu dengan tuan punya pen tu mat salleh, mungkin success rate akan tinggi sikit. Oh fine, mari saya bela negara sendiri. Rasanya ada flaw dalam experiment tu membuatkan result tu tak valid. Malaysians are a polite, helpful bunch of people, save for when they are on the road. Syaiton banyak atas jalan raya agaknya.