WEBVTT

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Vision is the most important

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and prioritized sense that we have.

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We are constantly looking

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at the world around us,

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and quickly we identify and make sense

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of what it is that we see.

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Let's just start with an example

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of that very fact.

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I'm going to show you
a photograph of a person,

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just for a second or two,

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and I'd like for you to identify

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what emotion is on his face.

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Ready?

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Here you go. Go with your gut reaction.

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Okay. What did you see?

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Well, we actually surveyed

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over 120 individuals,

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and the results were mixed.

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People did not agree

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on what emotion they saw on his face.

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Maybe you saw discomfort.

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That was the most frequent response

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that we received.

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But if you asked the person on your left,

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they might have said regret or skepticism,

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and if you asked somebody on your right,

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they might have said
something entirely different,

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like hope or empathy.

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So we are all looking

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at the very same face again.

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We might see something

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entirely different,

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because perception is subjective.

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What we think we see

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is actually filtered

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through our own mind's eye.

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Of course, there are many other examples

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of how we see the world
through own mind's eye.

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I'm going to give you just a few.

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So dieters, for instance,

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see apples as larger

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than people who are not counting calories.

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Softball players see the ball as smaller

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if they've just come out of a slump,

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compared to people who had
a hot night at the plate.

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And actually, our political beliefs also

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can affect the way we see other people,

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including politicians.

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So my research team and I
decided to test this question.

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In 2008, Barack Obama
was running for president

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for the very first time,

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and we surveyed hundreds of Americans

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one month before the election.

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What we found in this survey

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was that some people, some Americans,

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think photographs like these

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best reflect how Obama really looks.

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Of these people, 75 percent

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voted for Obama in the actual election.

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Other people, though,
thought photographs like these

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best reflect how Obama really looks.

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89 percent of these people

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voted for McCain.

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We presented many photographs of Obama

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one at a time,

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so people did not realize
that what we were changing

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from one photograph to the next

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was whether we had artificially lightened

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or darkened his skin tone.

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So how is that possible?

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How could it be
that when I look at a person,

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an object, or an event,

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I see something very different

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than somebody else does?

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Well, the reasons are many,

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but one reason requires that we understand

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a little bit more about how our eyes work.

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So vision scientists know

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that the amount of information

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that we can see

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at any given point in time,

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what we can focus on,
is actually relatively small.

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What we can see with great sharpness

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and clarity and accuracy

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is the equivalent

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of the surface area of our thumb

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on our outstretched arm.

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Everything else around that is blurry,

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rendering much of what is presented

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to our eyes as ambiguous.

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But we have to clarify

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and make sense of what it is that we see,

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and it's our mind
that helps us fill in that gap.

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As a result, perception
is a subjective experience,

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and that's how we end up seeing

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through our own mind's eye.

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So, I'm a social psychologist,

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and it's questions like these

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that really intrigue me.

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I am fascinated by those times

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when people do not see eye to eye.

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Why is it that somebody might

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literally see the glass as half full,

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and somebody literally sees it

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as half empty?

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What is it about what one person
is thinking and feeling

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that leads them to see the world

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in an entirely different way?

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And does that even matter?

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So to begin to tackle these questions,

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my research team and I
decided to delve deeply

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into an issue that has received

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international attention:

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our health and fitness.

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Across the world,

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people are struggling
to manage their weight,

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and there is a variety of strategies

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that we have to help us
keep the pounds off.

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For instance, we set
the best of intentions

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to exercise after the holidays,

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but actually, the majority of Americans

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find that their New Year's resolutions

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are broken by Valentine's Day.

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We talk to ourselves

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in very encouraging ways,

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telling ourselves this is our year

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to get back into shape,

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but that is not enough to bring us back

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to our ideal weight.

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So why?

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Of course, there is no simple answer,

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but one reason, I argue,

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is that our mind's eye

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might work against us.

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Some people may literally see exercise

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as more difficult,

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and some people might literally

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see exercise as easier.

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So, as a first step
to testing these questions,

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we gathered objective measurements

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of individuals' physical fitness.

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We measured the circumference
of their waist,

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compared to the circumference
of their hips.

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A higher waist-to-hip ratio

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is an indicator of being
less physically fit

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than a lower waist-to-hip ratio.

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After gathering these measurements,

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we told our participants

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that they would walk to a finish line

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while carrying extra weight

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in a sort of race.

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But before they did that,

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we asked them to estimate the distance

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to the finish line.

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We thought that the physical states
of their body

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might change how they perceived
the distance.

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So what did we find?

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Well, waist-to-hip ratio

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predicted perceptions of distance.

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People who were out of shape and unfit

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actually saw the distance
to the finish line

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as significantly greater

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than people who were in better shape.

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People's states of their own body

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changed how they perceived
the environment.

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But so too can our mind.

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In fact, our bodies and our minds

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work in tandem

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to change how we see the world around us.

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That led us to think that maybe people

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with strong motivations

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and strong goals to exercise

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might actually see
the finish line as closer

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than people who have weaker motivations.

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So to test whether motivations

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affect our perceptual
experiences in this way,

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we conducted a second study.

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Again, we gathered objective measurements

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of people's physical fitness,

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measuring the circumference of their waist

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and the circumference of their hips,

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and we had them do
a few other tests of fitness.

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Based on feedback that we gave them,

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some of our participants told us

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they're not motivated
to exercise any more.

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They felt like they already met
their fitness goals

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and they weren't going
to do anything else.

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These people were not motivated.

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Other people, though,
based on our feedback,

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told us they were highly motivated
to exercise.

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They had a strong goal
to make it to the finish line.

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But again, before we had them
walk to the finish line,

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we had them estimate the distance.

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How far away was the finish line?

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And again, like the previous study,

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we found that waist-to-hip ratio

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predicted perceptions of distance.

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Unfit individuals saw
the distance as farther,

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saw the finish line as farther away,

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than people who were in better shape.

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Importantly, though, this only happened

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for people who were not motivated

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to exercise.

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On the other hand,

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people who were highly motivated
to exercise

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saw the distance as short.

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Even the most out of shape individuals

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saw the finish line

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as just as close,

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if not slightly closer,

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than people who were in better shape.

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So our bodies can change

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how far away that finish line looks,

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but people who had committed
to a manageable goal

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that they could accomplish
in the near future

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and who believed that they were capable

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of meeting that goal

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actually saw the exercise as easier.

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That led us to wonder,

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is there a strategy that we could use

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and teach people that would help

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change their perceptions of the distance,

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help them make exercise look easier?

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So we turned
to the vision science literature

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to figure out what should we do,

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and based on what we read,
we came up with a strategy

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that we called,
"Keep your eyes on the prize."

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So this is not the slogan

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from an inspirational poster.

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It's an actual directive

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for how to look around your environment.

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People that we trained in this strategy,

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we told them to focus their attention
on the finish line,

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to avoid looking around,

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to imagine a spotlight

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was shining on that goal,

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and that everything around it was blurry

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and perhaps difficult to see.

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We thought that this strategy

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would help make the exercise look easier.

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We compared this group

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to a baseline group.

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To this group we said,

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just look around the environment

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as you naturally would.

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You will notice the finish line,

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but you might also notice

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the garbage can off to the right,

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or the people and the lamp post
off to the left.

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We thought that people
who used this strategy

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would see the distance as farther.

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So what did we find?

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When we had them estimate the distance,

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was this strategy successful

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for changing their perceptual experience?

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Yes.

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People who kept their eyes on the prize

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saw the finish line as 30 percent closer

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than people who looked around

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as they naturally would.

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We thought this was great.

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We were really excited because it meant

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that this strategy helped make

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the exercise look easier,

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but the big question was,

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could this help make exercise

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actually better?

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Could it improve the quality

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of exercise as well?

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So next, we told our participants,

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you are going to walk to the finish line

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while wearing extra weight.

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We added weights to their ankles

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that amounted to 15 percent
of their body weight.

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We told them to lift their knees up high

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and walk to the finish line quickly.

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We designed this exercise in particular

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to be moderately challenging

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but not impossible,

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like most exercises

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that actually improve our fitness.

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So the big question, then:

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Did keeping your eyes on the prize

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and narrowly focusing on the finish line

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change their experience of the exercise?

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It did.

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People who kept their eyes on the prize

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told us afterward that it required

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17 percent less exertion

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for them to do this exercise

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than people who looked around naturally.

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It changed their subjective experience

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of the exercise.

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It also changed the objective nature

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of their exercise.

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People who kept their eyes on the prize

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actually moved 23 percent faster

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than people who looked around naturally.

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To put that in perspective,

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a 23 percent increase

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is like trading in
your 1980 Chevy Citation

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for a 1980 Chevrolet Corvette.

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We were so excited by this,

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because this meant that a strategy

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that costs nothing,

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that is easy for people to use,

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regardless of whether they're in shape

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or struggling to get there,

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had a big effect.

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Keeping your eyes on the prize

00:11:42.915 --> 00:11:45.679
made the exercise look and feel easier

00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:48.125
even when people were working harder

00:11:48.125 --> 00:11:50.284
because they were moving faster.

00:11:50.284 --> 00:11:53.257
Now, I know there's more to good health

00:11:53.257 --> 00:11:55.313
than walking a little bit faster,

00:11:55.313 --> 00:11:57.535
but keeping your eyes on the prize

00:11:57.535 --> 00:11:59.223
might be one additional strategy

00:11:59.223 --> 00:12:00.973
that you can use to help promote

00:12:00.973 --> 00:12:03.000
a healthy lifestyle.

00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:04.999
If you're not convinced yet

00:12:04.999 --> 00:12:07.860
that we all see the world
through our own mind's eye,

00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:09.919
let me leave you with one final example.

00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:13.526
Here's a photograph of a beautiful street
in Stockholm, with two cars.

00:12:13.526 --> 00:12:15.331
The car in the back looks much larger

00:12:15.331 --> 00:12:16.675
than the car in the front.

00:12:16.675 --> 00:12:18.641
However, in reality,

00:12:18.641 --> 00:12:20.795
these cars are the same size,

00:12:20.795 --> 00:12:23.495
but that's not how we see it.

00:12:24.095 --> 00:12:25.446
So does this mean

00:12:25.446 --> 00:12:27.549
that our eyes have gone haywire

00:12:27.549 --> 00:12:29.672
and that our brains are a mess?

00:12:29.672 --> 00:12:32.295
No, it doesn't mean that at all.

00:12:32.295 --> 00:12:34.601
It's just how our eyes work.

00:12:34.601 --> 00:12:37.241
We might see the world in a different way,

00:12:37.241 --> 00:12:39.152
and sometimes that might not

00:12:39.152 --> 00:12:41.194
line up with reality,

00:12:41.194 --> 00:12:43.301
but it doesn't mean
that one of us is right

00:12:43.301 --> 00:12:45.468
and one of us is wrong.

00:12:45.468 --> 00:12:47.788
We all see the world
through our mind's eye,

00:12:47.788 --> 00:12:50.253
but we can teach ourselves
to see it differently.

00:12:50.253 --> 00:12:52.219
So I can think of days

00:12:52.219 --> 00:12:54.418
that have gone horribly wrong for me.

00:12:54.418 --> 00:12:56.808
I'm fed up, I'm grumpy, I'm tired,

00:12:56.808 --> 00:12:58.697
and I'm so behind,

00:12:58.697 --> 00:13:00.832
and there's a big black cloud

00:13:00.832 --> 00:13:02.417
hanging over my head,

00:13:02.417 --> 00:13:03.793
and on days like these,

00:13:03.793 --> 00:13:05.716
it looks like everyone around me

00:13:05.716 --> 00:13:07.653
is down in the dumps too.

00:13:07.653 --> 00:13:09.707
My colleague at work looks annoyed

00:13:09.707 --> 00:13:12.162
when I ask for an extension on a deadline,

00:13:12.162 --> 00:13:14.243
and my friend looks frustrated

00:13:14.243 --> 00:13:17.236
when I show up late for lunch
because a meeting ran long,

00:13:17.236 --> 00:13:18.655
and at the end of the day,

00:13:18.655 --> 00:13:20.522
my husband looks disappointed

00:13:20.522 --> 00:13:23.315
because I'd rather go to bed
than go to the movies.

00:13:23.315 --> 00:13:25.747
And on days like these,
when everybody looks

00:13:25.747 --> 00:13:27.842
upset and angry to me,

00:13:27.842 --> 00:13:31.242
I try to remind myself that there are
other ways of seeing them.

00:13:31.242 --> 00:13:33.851
Perhaps my colleague was confused,

00:13:33.851 --> 00:13:36.280
perhaps my friend was concerned,

00:13:36.280 --> 00:13:39.823
and perhaps my husband
was feeling empathy instead.

00:13:39.823 --> 00:13:41.728
So we all see the world

00:13:41.728 --> 00:13:43.695
through our own mind's eye,

00:13:43.695 --> 00:13:45.646
and on some days, it might look

00:13:45.646 --> 00:13:47.247
like the world is a dangerous

00:13:47.247 --> 00:13:49.576
and challenging and insurmountable place,

00:13:49.576 --> 00:13:52.456
but it doesn't have to look
that way all the time.

00:13:52.456 --> 00:13:54.807
We can teach ourselves
to see it differently,

00:13:54.807 --> 00:13:57.502
and when we find a way to make the world

00:13:57.502 --> 00:13:59.524
look nicer and easier,

00:13:59.524 --> 00:14:01.673
it might actually become so.

00:14:01.673 --> 00:14:03.163
Thank you.

00:14:03.163 --> 00:14:05.455
(Applause)