William Kirker: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from William Kirker, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

You'll remember a word better if asked whether it describes you
In a 1977 experiment, people recalled far more adjectives when asked "does this describe you?" than when asked to judge the same words for spelling, sound, or even general meaning.…
— Timothy Rogers, Nicholas Kuiper, and William Kirker, Self-reference and the encoding of personal information
You remember a word much better once you relate it to yourself
Ask someone whether a word is printed in capital letters and they barely retain it; ask whether that same word describes them, and recall jumps sharply. Linking new information to …
— Timothy Rogers, Nicholas Kuiper & William Kirker, Self-Reference and the Encoding of Personal Information

Five ideas worth knowing, every week