10 Mind-Myths: Do Any of These Catch You Out?

[Cheese]

#6. 50% of College Students Think We See Like Superman, Despite Perception Course
Our eyes are only receptors, we don't see by sending out rays. But even after being told the truth, people still revert almost immediately to the myth that we see like Superman.

Psyblog

[flip]

Is that for real? I honestly don't think anyone I know would think that we see with rays going out of our eyes.

The only reason I doubted for a second that #1 was the answer was that the article is about misconception so I thought maybe there was something deeper to vision that I'd been mislead to believe.

EDIT: So I decided to test my statement and of the 3 coworkers I asked 2 of them got it wrong and the other one didn't answer.

However after explaining the answer all 3 were confused about the question because it is misleading itself. They all thought that the outward rays were in reference to the fact that the eye cannot absorb all of the rays and as such deflects some of the light back out. (something that the article even points out)

It's a loaded question designed to make people fail.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

It's shocking how many people believe that we only use 10% of our brains--even though if you ponder it for just a second that's clearly nonsense. But that's one that I know for a fact tons of people believe despite taking any number of basic science classes that ought to give them enough information to know otherwise.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

It's shocking how many people believe that we only use 10% of our brains--even though if you ponder it for just a second that's clearly nonsense. But that's one that I know for a fact tons of people believe despite taking any number of basic science classes that ought to give them enough information to know otherwise.

The reason why so many people believe it is because those people only use 10% of their brains.

[GGG]

The second myth of Blind people having better senses is cheating because they distinguish between being better able to use the information and better being able to aquire information.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by flip

It's a loaded question designed to make people fail.

agree with this, most of them were.

Originally Posted by GGG

The second myth of Blind people having better senses is cheating because they distinguish between being better able to use the information and better being able to aquire information.

indeed, echolocation isn't enhanced sense of hearing, it's a new skill?? Now we're nitpicking to create the result we want. Article is a epic fail imo.

[corporatejay]

Yeah, that article isn't very well written. A lot of the things they tell you are "myths" if you just reword the statement it becomes true.

[Clarkey]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

The reason why so many people believe it is because those people only use 10% of their brains.

I think it's fair to say that most people only tap into a percentage of their true potential in life. I don't think it's possible to quantify what that average percentage is though.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Clarkey

I think it's fair to say that most people only tap into a percentage of their true potential in life. I don't think it's possible to quantify what that average percentage is though.

That isn't the myth, though. The myth is that we only use 10% of our brain. It's very persistent--it gets repeated on the radio, on TV, by otherwise well-educated people. And it's nonsense--if it were true, brain injury would be no big deal--and in fact, most brain injuries (90% of them) would have no effect whatsoever on function. Not to mention how evolutionarily insane it would be to develop a massive resource-draining organ and then only use 10% of it.

I think it's one of those myths that is comforting to believe--because it implies that there might be unimaginable vistas that could be opened up through the power of the human mind alone. But really, our brains actually are running at pretty much peak capacity all the time. If they weren't, we'd be in huge trouble.

[Displaced Flames fan]

For the record, my post was an attempt at humor.

[photon]

I thought it was clever.

[Daradon]

I lot of those I knew. The brain one surprised me, but it makes sense when they explained it, and I remember learning the different parts and the way they function. I don't know why the myth stuck. Maybe because no one ever told me it wasn't true. Even knowing the different lobes and such, I was never told how intensely they were used.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by photon

I thought it was clever.

Me too.