Booba and KiKi(serious post)

[Robnaldo]

Okay if this has been posted please let me know!!
Otherwise here we go.



Okay, a remote tribe calls one of these shapes booba and the other kiki. Which shape do you think has which name?

Answer in below:




















<font color="white">In a psychological experiment first designed by Wolfgang Köhler, people are asked to choose which of these shapes is named Booba and which is named Kiki. Over 90% of people choose Kiki for the orange angular shape and Booba for the rounded shape.

It is thought that this has implications for language development, in that the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary. The rounded shape may most commonly be named Booba because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound. Similarly a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sound Kiki. </font>






Lets discuss how this does and/or doesn't relate to poker =)

[purnell]

OK I'll bite. Phonetically, kiki is a sharp pointy sound, and boobies are soft and round. Thus I intuit that the kiki is the one with the acute angles, and the rounded blobby one is the booba.

Now tell me why I'm a fool, and exactly what this has to do with poker.

[Robnaldo]

I don't really have an answer, I just thought it was interesting...but here are my thoughts;


When the question is asked, I immediately thought... Wow they want me to say Booba=purple and kiki=orange for similiar reasons you mention.

Knowing this, I choose the opposite.
I think of it like this:

The question is the house:
The "answer" is Booba=orange and Kiki=purple

If you get the answer right the house gives you $0.10
If you get the answer wrong you give the house $0.10

When asked this question by the house I know that the majority of the people are going to go with Purple=Booba because of the obvious reasons.
However it would be unfavourable to the house for that to be the correct answer.
So obviously the answer is booba=orange.

However when deciding your answer I believe it boils down to what you think the average persons natural level of thinking is.

Also another interesting point I just thought about.

How about if instead you lost or won $100 000 instead of $0.10 by getting this answer correctly.

I still believe the majority of people would still pick booba=purple, but I think a higher percentage of people would get the answer "correct."
I think this links with the "bad players do play better when they try" when faced with a serious or intimidating player. (from SSH)

[Demana]

I followed the standard line of thinking in that Kiki sounded angular and the orange shape was angular. But then I reversed my choice because Booba sounded like an explosion and the orange shape looked more menacing (like KABOOM!).

In the end, I did not make a choice and instead scrolled down to see the answer.

[purnell]

.

[krimson]

When reading this I knew their were going to be posts of people saying "I knew they wanted me to say such and such, so I picked the opposite"

But doesn't this prove the author's point perfectly?

Another thing I found interesting, which may be coincidence, is the shaping of the letters spelling these words/names in english.

Kiki, the K is a very sharp and pokey letter, and Booba, B's and O's are rounded and soft/plump looking. This was really what drove me to my (automated) decision. I found this interesting because this is not the explanation given for why we pick those, which makes me wonder if the shaping of the letters in the english language was driven by the sounds they make.

[Robnaldo]

[ QUOTE ]
But doesn't this prove the author's point perfectly?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right, there is no way we can deny how we see colors/shapes in sounds. As for shaping literature and more interesting thoughts, check it out from the source here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synaesthesia

I was just putting a twist on things by throwing money into the situation.

Like you said there will be posts similiar to mine: "I knew they wanted me to say such and such, so I picked the opposite"
but the truth is the majority of the people won't do that.

Making for a very odd but profitable bet.

Also I think you could further better the house odds by changing the question around to manipulate people in giving the wrong answer.

Instead saying:
Okay, a remote tribe calls one of these shapes booba and the other kiki. Which shape do you think has which name?

You could say:
Okay, a remote tribe calls one of these shapes booba and the other kiki. Which shape do you think has which name? And Why?


That isn't a good example but I think it would intice more people to choose the "wrong" answer.

[purnell]

Your original post did not say, "You may make a wager as to which...". I imagined myself in some tropical place attempting to communicate, and in that case I am certain that the intuitive answer is correct.

["spaceman"Bryce]

I immediately thought booba was orange and kiki was purple.Maybe this means Im wierd...

[krimson]

[ QUOTE ]
I immediately thought booba was orange and kiki was purple.Maybe this means Im wierd...

[/ QUOTE ]

You know what. My immediate reaction, before thinking about the question, was the same. I think because the subject and question refer to "booba and kiki" in that order, so the very first reaction is to name the shapes in that order.