"Top 10" reasons why we love so much "10 Tops"

Why did we open lists? Internet is flooded with information that is divided into bite-size pieces. But why are we so attracted lists? This issue explores Claudia Hammond.





1. We know that the poluchimBud "10 medical mysteries that science can not yet solve" or "stunning 60" hacks "of the brain that will make your life better," this pattern familiar to us. The list is numbered, and you scroll it down to see what will happen next. We proceed from the experience, which gives us an idea of ​​what to expect. This psychological technique allows us to more easily understand and absorb information.

2. We do not like something upuskatTrudno not be tempted to open the list. When you see the name of the list you think this information is already in your hands - you just open the page. If you do not, you will lose that just had in their hands. And, as established Daniel Kahneman and other psychologists for many years of research, we do not like to lose what we already have. So it is sometimes easier to open the article than to put up with a sense of loss of information.

3. They are less loaded our mozg

Read the information on the network requires us to perform several tasks. While we read something, we also decide that for some link to go, where to move the mouse and how to position the page on the screen, not to mention the pop-up windows, reminding of e-mails and incoming messages.

Researchers from the State University of Albany (NY) found that sometimes this can lead to a sense of disorientation. And then come to the aid lists - their simple structure again makes the work with the text clearer.

4. We like to think that we are too zanyatyLegko believe that we are much busier now than people who lived a few decades ago. However, if you look at the results of studies on the use of time for decades, it is not quite true. In 1887, Nietzsche complained about the same thing: "A man thinks with a clock in his hand, even when eating his lunch while reading the latest news of the stock market».

But if you take the US as an example, various studies conducted in the last 50 years show that the average American today has 6-9 hours of free time per week than it had five years ago.

Nevertheless, the information explosion has led to the fact that we have a huge number of sources of information vying for our attention, and it gives a feeling that we will never be able to keep up with the times. So we like to save time by not reading lengthy articles and arguments and concise lists.

5. Lists enable you to easily view the information ... Format article, presented in the form of a list, well applicable to the specific facts - such as the "10 most insane adventurers." They are also useful for practical advice - for example, for the instruction "9 tips for those who decided to fight their addictions," because you can view and scroll through the information, quickly find the titles is just what you need.

However, everything has its limits. Studies have shown that if each item is linked to another, this can lead to a loss of yarn narrative reducing acknowledgment. The researchers also found that the same thing happens if the text is too many headlines. Scientists from the University of Washington calculated that the best option - the title of one of about 200 words. If the headlines are more common, we lose the thread of the narrative and no longer understand what is at stake.

6. ... and we always know how much ostalosRedaktory tend to believe that the text should be internetskih more headlines. Read an endless web page much more tiring than flipping book. The reason is that in the case of the book, we always see how much is left. According to the list immediately evident not only how long we still have to read the article, but it still makes it possible to understand how the individual information blocks we have yet to learn.

7. It is interesting to try to guess what is on the list ... At that moment, when you learn that the article is framed in the form of a list, it is difficult to resist trying to predict its contents. It's like a game. How many of the top 10 candy 80s and 90s, you can call? Even better, it's not just a quiz with right and wrong answers. This is a game that combines information, selected randomly, as the list is often based on subjective judgments of the author. This is the best kind of game. Neurological studies show that the brain rewards us with higher doses of dopamine (the hormone of joy), when the odds of winning - 50%, and you win. And you can not tell whether you win, until you open the list.

8. ... and we like to make sure their pravotePrelest lists is that you can make quick decisions on what to look for. We pay more attention to any information that confirms that we were right. Lists help us feel satisfied. You can open the top 10 best films of the 80s and to find films which have never heard of, but that's okay, because you can not pay attention to this information as soon as you see the list of familiar movie.

9. The list gives a sense zakonchennostiInformatsiya on the package as a list gives us the feeling that the list includes all of the issue is closed. The uncertainty decreases, and we love anything that gives us some semblance of control in our unstable world. Many psychological studies over the decades show that we want to feel as if we have complete control over what is happening, even if it is not true.

10. Lists like zhurnalistySpiski love not only the readers. Journalists also love to write lists. Instead of carefully craft an article that each paragraph follows logically from the previous one, it is much easier to make a list. After all, it contains the finished structure. The main thing - to come up with the last line. And the list to finish ...

via www.bbc.com/future/story/20150410-9-reasons-we-love-lists