Learn about why most peoples’ favorite color is blue. Then, you’ll learn why the mystery of how how cats always land on their feet puzzled scientists for centuries, with help from author Greg Gbur. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about the psychological reason why most people’s favorite color is blue: https://curiosity.com/topics/the-psychological-reason-why-most-peoples-favorite-color-is-blue-curiosity Additional resources from Greg Gbur: Pick up “Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics” on Amazon — https://amazon.com Follow Greg Gbur on Twitter — https://twitter.com/drskyskull Greg Gbur’s website — https://skullsinthestars.com/ Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing! Just click or tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about why most peoples’ favorite color is blue. Then, you’ll learn why the mystery of how how cats always land on their feet puzzled scientists for centuries, with help from author Greg Gbur.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about the psychological reason why most people’s favorite color is blue: https://curiosity.com/topics/the-psychological-reason-why-most-peoples-favorite-color-is-blue-curiosity
Additional resources from Greg Gbur:
Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing! Just click or tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-cats-land-on-their-feet-w-greg-gbur-and-why-most-peoples-favorite-color-is-blue
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why most peoples’ favorite color is blue. Then, you’ll learn why the mystery of how cats always land on their feet puzzled scientists for centuries, with help from author Greg Gbur.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The Psychological Reason Why Most People's Favorite Color Is Blue — https://curiosity.com/topics/the-psychological-reason-why-most-peoples-favorite-color-is-blue-curiosity (Cody)
What’s your favorite color? Can I make a guess? My guess is blue. And I’m guessing that because, apparently, blue is most people’s favorite color. And scientists think they know why. Even cooler is that their theory also says that our feelings about color aren't as fixed as we think.
First you have to undrestand why we prefer certain colors in the first place. According to psychologists, our opinion on color can be traced to the emotional associations we make with objects of that color. So, if you don’t like broccoli, you might not like green. Or you might like yellow because it reminds you of a smiley face. Of course, a single color can be associated with both "good" and "bad" things. Brown is the color of yummy chocolate but also the color of feces. Yuck.
But there's one color that has hardly any downsides. Try thing of something negative that’s blue. Pretty hard right? While, on the positive side, people universally experience blue skies and clear water.
So, do you choose to own a blue car or t-shirt because you're subconsciously reminded of blue skies? Not necessarily.
In a study from 2011, researchers pitted colors against each other. They were studying the link between students' school spirit and their feelings on their schools' colors. And Stanford University students ended up preferring their school’s red and white over Berkeley’s blue and gold.
The same team-like associations happen on election day. If you tend to vote for Republican candidates, you might switch to preferring red, which represents the party you most closely associate with. But the rest of the year, you’ll prefer the color blue, same as your Democrat friends.
There are seasonal differences, too. If it’s autumn and you’re seeing falling leaves, you might prefer brown, gold and orange — because yes, color preferences even tend to change with the seasons.
So, basically, your favorite color varies and is influenced by your experiences with things around you — not the other way around. This would have been good to have known last autumn right, when you bought that orange jacket you haven’t worn. Check the return policy on your receipt, though — who knows? Maybe you can go exchange it for a blue one.
[SKILLSHARE]
ASHLEY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Skillshare. Make 2020 a year where you explore new skills, deepen existing passions, and get lost in creativity, with Skillshare’s online classes. Skillshare is an online learning community that offers membership with meaning. And what you find just might surprise and inspire you.
CODY: I was surprised and inspired when a look at Skillshare’s top classes from 2019. Because I found a class I probably wouldn’t have thought about taking otherwise. It’s called “Writing The Truth: How to Start Writing Your Memoir.” And it’s taught by Mary Karr, a critically-acclaimed memoirist behind “The Liar’s Club” and other New York Times best-selling memoirs. No, I’m not writing my own memoir right now, but it’s been a super helpful class for learning about some new approaches to writing and new ways to talk about myself in general. And finding new ways to be creative helps everything I do.
ASHLEY: Explore YOUR creativity at Skillshare.com/CURIOSITY and get 2 free months of Premium Membership. That’s two whole months of unlimited access to thousands of classes for free.
CODY: Skillshare is a proud sponsor of Curiosity Daily. So get started and join today by heading to Skillshare.com/CURIOSITY. One more time, that’s Skillshare.com/CURIOSITY.
Greg Gbur — How cats land on their feet [4:40] (Ashley)
We’ve talked about cats on this podcast. We’ve talked about physics on this podcast. We think you’re ready for the next level of Curiosity Daily: CAT. PHYSICS. And this story comes with a side of history and a little space exploration. Fun for the whole family! Because it turns out that studying the science behind cats’ extraordinary ability to always land on their feet has given us crucial insights into puzzles in mathematics, geophysics, and human space exploration. And that’s according to physicist and cat parent Greg Gbur, author of the new book “Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.” He told us that researchers started publishing papers on how cats land on their feet all the way back in 1700, back when Isaac Newton was still alive. And today, physicists are STILL fighting it out. Here’s our conversation with Greg, starting with one of the first major breakthroughs in studying how cats move.
[CLIP 3:41]
Okay, so a cat can rotate its tail or “bend and twist” its body to get an overall body rotation to help it land on its feet. How does that help us, though? Greg told us about some of the things we can learn from studying cat physics.
[CLIP 0:59]
You can read more in Greg Gbur’s new book, “Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.”
Egg follow-up email
CODY: Before we wrap up, we wanted to follow up on our story about brown and white eggs from last Friday. Special thank you to David in Brackney, Pennsylvania, who wrote in about our segment on the difference between white and brown eggs.
ASHLEY: David sent us a picture of the brown, white, and GREEN eggs he recently bought! David pointed out that brown eggshells aren't always stronger than white ones, and a bit more research confirmed this to be true. Thanks for the heads up, David — and we hope you enjoyed your green eggs with some ham, like you mentioned.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s first story was written by Steffie Drucker, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Curiosity Daily is produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!