# psych vegetables

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292 "2001-07-12T23:22:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292/1 "2001-07-12T23:22:53Z")

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many years ago there was a quiz doing the rounds.

after a series of questions a final one was asked:

what is your favorite vegetable?

in overwhelming numbers the answer given was “carrot”-i think

why? and what the hell were the preceding questions?

help!

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**Author:** ![curiousgeorgeordeadcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@curiousgeorgeordeadcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curiousgeorgeordeadcat)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292/2 "2001-07-13T01:28:41Z")

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I remember people asking:  
What is 3 times 5?  
Name a vegetable.  
The person doing this would then claim the numbers 3, 5,  
15, and the word “carrot” are all stored in the same part  
of the brain.

Really I think people just tend to think of carrots first  
when asked to name a vegetable. Perhaps carrots are  
actually the most popular?

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**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292/3 "2001-07-13T02:20:36Z")

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thanx cgdc

i’ll test the 3x5 hypothesis, perhaps with a bunch of

other q’s and see what happens.

it also raises the problem of the rate of change of the

mind. i.e. how does the brain assume new knowledge over

the entire population. in this case a number system and

a new vegetable. ( mind you, i have no idea where carrots

came from, nor when they became part of everyone’s diet)

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**Author:** ![chrisn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@chrisn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisn)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292/4 "2001-07-13T02:55:35Z")

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I’ve seen this effect achieved by getting people to repeat the word “aluminum” thirty times and then asking them to quickly name a vegetable. Of course, these were inebriated university students so that’s really not saying much either.

I think the idea is that performing any distractor task makes it more likely that someone will say “carrot” because, for most people, its prototypical of the vegetable category.

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**Author:** ![curiousgeorgeordeadcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@curiousgeorgeordeadcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curiousgeorgeordeadcat)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psych-vegetables/72292/5 "2001-07-13T04:58:57Z")

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flano1:  
You actually asked this question before. I guess you must  
have lost track of the thread, as you are new. Here it is:  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=76802](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=76802)  
Welcome to the board.