Today, something crossed my mind that happened about a month ago, and I wondered if anyone has had a similar experience…
I was at a restaurant eating dinner, and my cup was nearly empty, so I went to get a refill. It was at that moment, that I realized I was not drinking what I thought I had been drinking. When I originally dispensed my beverage, I had wanted Coca-Cola, but I had unkowingly used the root beer tap instead. The whole time I was eating my meal, I would’ve sworn I was drinking Coca-Cola, because that is what I had believed I had originally dispensed and drinking. When I went to the fountain the second time and took the last sip of my beverage, the taste/realization hit me, “Hey this is ROOT BEER!”
Granted, the taste of the food had probably detracted from my awareness which beverage I was drinking; however, I know it was predominantly the fact I had a mental impression that I was drinking Coke, not root beer.
Has anyone else here eaten/drank something they THOUGHT was something else without realizing it until after the fact? Other similar-based interesting tales of misconception are welcome, also.
Decide I want Coke
At last moment change my mind to lemonade (or something)
Forget I changed my mind
Absent-mindedly take a drink (expecting Coke)
Start to gag because all I know is that whatever I just put in my mouth in NOT Coke
Look sheepish when I realize what happened.
Repeat three minutes later.
Actually answering the OP’s question–when I was a senior in high school, a friend of mine was in this college physcology (yeah yeah it’s spelled wrong–I can never spell that work) class and had to do an experiment with the power of suggestion. So she gave me a piece of candy and after I ate it, she told me some crazy homeless old man had given it to her (only she worded it in a much more believable fashion) and I fell for it, and totally went nuts thinking I just took some creepy drugs, and I actually threw up because of it.
Hah! My cousin did the same experiment on me. He gave me saltines to eat, while talking about cheese, chocolate, and pizza. The cheese description was the most effective, although I could “taste” the chocolate a bit. Pizza was the least effective, maybe because it was the last.
Hey, this just happened to me a couple of days ago.
Hubby asks “I’m putting the kettle on, want a tea?”.
Me: “Sure, I’d love one.”
Get it about 90% drank when he informs me “oh, it was coffee by the way. We didn’t have any tea bags.”
Hey, coulda fooled me. Was offered a tea, as far as I was concerned I was drinking a tea. Have to admit, I thought it tasted a little off but blamed it on his tea making skills.
AHHHH!!! I FINISHED my psych of mass communication class last week! Are you my professor? Are you trying to make me insane??? AHHHH!!!
ahem. Please excuse that outburst. A little latent PTSD. Re: OP. You’ve discovered what the advertising industry has known for decades. The power of suggestion is frightenly strong.
When I was in the military, I was with a detachment looking for some droids. In retrospect, I did actually come pretty close to recovering them, but this old man gave me some ‘these aren’t the droids you’re looking for’ bullshit, and I actually believed him. A little while later, me and my buddy were talking, and it hit me, “Doh! Those were the droids!” The guys still give me a hard time about it. We’ll go out, and someone will grab my beer and say, “This isn’t the beer you’re looking for,” and I’ll believe him. I don’t get drunk too much anymore.
When I was in college, I used to share a house with five other students. That particular year, a new guy moved into our house. He was a bit of a wuss, and one of my housemates and me decided to do whatever is takes to make a man out of this guy. So we show him around, take him out to drink, etc.
The guy gets into the habit of things, joins a fraternity, and starts coming home very drunk on a very regular basis. We decide that our work is not fully done: obviously, this kid thinks he can drink forever and get away with it.
One night, he comes home, looking REALLY wasted. He says he’s going to bed and he’s brining a bucket, because he feels like crap and MIGHT throw up during the night.
We made sure he did.
We stood outside his door for about 5 minutes, saying things like: “Hey, Mark! Bacon and Eggs! Herrings in sour cream! Pickles with mayonaise! Chocolate milk! Mashed potatoes and gravy!”.
Sure enough, he threw up like there was no tomorrow. So yeah, I’d say it works
This is really odd, because I was thinking about just this thing this morning. Maybe this thread doesn’t really exist and this is just going to be some nonsensical addition to a totally unrelated topic?
Anyway, when I was in college, I belonged to a sorority. One of the other members got pregnant. She & her boyfriend were very strict Catholics (except for that having sex outside of marriage thing) and they just didn’t know how to deal with it all. She completely denied she was pregnant, even when we could see the growing belly and we were aware of her morning sickness (we all lived in the sorority house). Even at nine months, with a huge stomach on her, she would refuse to admit it. The weird thing was, people believed her. I knew she had to be pregnant, but I still had an inkling of doubt. It was the strangest thing. When she went into labor, three other girls and I took her to the hospital. While we were in the waiting room during the delivery, two of the people there were still unconvinced. The baby was put up for adoption, so we never saw it (him? her?). Nothing was ever said about it afterward. She maintained that she had been having stomach problems.
Yeah. One night I started practicing handstands in the living room. I was very proud of myself for staying balanced for a long time, when my sister said, “Woooaaaahhh-- wooooaaaahhh-- woah! Woooaaah!” And of course I lost my balance and fell. She thought it was hilarious (and it was). After that whenever I tried to do a handstand, I would stay up until she started saying “woah,” and then I’d tip over. In the years since we’ve done similae things to each other, always to good effect. Try it at home!
