Building Better Conversations | David Robson [Republish]

Have you ever had the experience of walking out of a movie you just saw with a friend, and you say you loved it, and your friend, not so much. There are a lot of reasons why we have these different experiences of the same thing. Taste. Preferences. How we feel in the moment was the popcorn fresh?

They all have significant impact. But our expectations tremendously influence how we feel and experience almost everything. How do we know? Well, a terrific experiment gave two groups of people the same breakfast shake and then measured their ghrelin levels before and after they consumed the shake. Ghrelins are the hunger hormone, and when their count is high in our blood, it means we're feeling hungry. And when the ghrelin count is low, it means we're feeling full.

One group in the experiment was told that the shake was light and low calorie. The other group was told that it was thick and high in calories. Though of course it was exactly the same shake. Now people in the experiment who were told that it was the thick high calorie shake. Said they felt full afterwards compared to the other group. Not only did they feel full, but their ghrel and count matched their feelings.

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