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Can you keep a secret? We refer to keeping secrets as if they are material things. And a new study suggests that when we know a secret, we perceive ourselves as being physically burdened.
Researchers recruited participants to write a description of either a serious secret, like a story of infidelity or sexual orientation, or a more trivial secret. Then they looked at a hill straight on and were asked to rate the hill’s steepness. Those subjects who wrote about an important secret perceived the hills as steeper than those who wrote about trivial secrets. The research is in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Earlier studies have shown that people who are physically weighted down also perceive hills as steeper than those who are not.
In a separate investigation, researchers found that subjects who recalled a significant secret also judged a target to be further off in the distance than those who remembered a less meaningful secret.
Hmm. So maybe divulging secrets will relieve you of a burden—then again, we better wait for a study on how stressful it is to lose every friend who confides in you.
—Christie Nicholson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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3 Comments
Add CommentThis may be true in a non professional sense, but this has to change once it becomes a job. A Dr.'s staff (especially in a small town) carries a big burden when it comes to knowing about the secrets of its patients. After 17 years of family practice and knowing the most sensitive and life altering secrets anyone could, keeping quiet is now second nature. Unfortunately the staff of drug/alcohol/ sex addiction treatment centers need to understand that actors and other famous people deserve the same sensitivity as the normal guy (unless their publicist decides to out them, which is fine as long as they don't blame someone else). There is a reason we don't give medical test results to anyone but the patient unless we have their permission in writing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe it's not just secrets but other factors like Shame or an Honesty Wish that are needed to increase the apparent steepness of a hill, if that is the case then holding professional secrets, like patient confidentiality, would not tend to "weigh one down" especially if one believes in the principle.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIT MUST HAVE BEEN TRUE BECAUSE BEING PHISICALLY BURDEN OCCURES TO ME LOTS OF TIME BUT WHEN YOUR FRIEND TELL YOU A SCRET YOU HAVE TO TOLRATE ANPRECIEVE THE HILLS STEEPER!!THIS IS HOW YOU SACRIFICE...
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