The Daily Stat: Do You Think of Time as Proceeding Left to Right or Right to Left?

Are you having trouble viewing this email? If so, click here to see it in a web browser. HOME   |   BLOGS   |   THE MAGAZINE   |   BOOKS   |   AUTHORS   |   STORE RSS   |   Mobile JANUARY 15, 2013 Do You Think of Time as Proceeding Left to Right or Right to Left? Research participants viewed a weight-loss ad more favorably (scoring it 4.64 on a seven-point scale) when a "before" picture was placed on the left and an "after" picture was placed on the right, in comparison with when the picture locations were reversed (3.39 on the same scale), say doctoral candidate Boyoun (Grace) Chae and Joandrea Hoegg of the University of British Columbia. That's because the participants, who grew up using left-to-right languages such as English, conceptualize time as proceeding from left to right. The effect is reversed among people from cultures that read right to left, even if those cultures read numbers from left to right, the researchers say. Source: The Future Looks "Right": Effects of the Horizontal Location of Advertising Images on Product Attitude Share Today's Stat: FEATURED PRODUCT Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business Ebook Now Available Whole Foods Market Co-Founder John Mackey and Bentley professor Raj Sisodia argue for the inherent good of both business and capitalism, and use some of today's best known companies to illustrate how these two forces work most powerfully to create value for all stakeholders from customers and employees to investors and the environment. Learn how these "Conscious Capitalism" companies including Whole Foods Market, Southwest Airlines, Google, Patagonia and The Container Store use four specific tenets – higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership and conscious culture and management – to build strong businesses and help advance capitalism further towards realizing its highest potential. ADVERTISEMENT Follow the Stat: BEST SELLERS HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations HBR Guide to Better Business Writing HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done PREVIOUS STATS Big Rise in MBAs Makes the Degree Less Exclusive Many Russian Doctoral Students Purchase Their Dissertations For Sales Jobs, Your Résumé Should Tout Your Math Skills Salaries Rise After CEO's Wife Has First-Born Daughter Being Sleepy Makes You More Inclined to Surf the Web at Work Middle Schoolers Do Better If They Start School Later iPhone Thefts Skew Crime Stats in New York A Big Benefit of Taking the Bus: You Have to Walk to the Bus Stop Fatal Heart Attacks Decline When Workplaces Go Smoke-Free Presence of U.S. Troops Boosts Countries' Growth Introducing Mobile ManageMentor Powered by the proven content of Harvard ManageMentor™ iTunes >> Android >> UNSUBSCRIBE   |   UPDATE YOUR PROFILE   |   MORE EMAIL NEWSLETTERS   |   PRIVACY POLICY Was this email forwarded to you? If so, sign up to start receiving your own copy. ABOUT THIS MAILING LIST You have received this message because you subscribed to the "The Daily Stat" email newsletter from Harvard Business Review. If at any point you wish to remove yourself from this list, change your email address, or sign up for other email newsletters and alerts, please visit the Harvard Business Review Email Newsletter Preference Center. OPT OUT If you do not wish to receive any email messages from Harvard Business Review, click here. ADVERTISE WITH HBR This enewsletter is read by thousands of decision makers every day. Learn more about connecting your brand with this audience. Copyright © 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing | 60 Harvard Way | Boston, MA 02163 Customer Service: 800-545-7685 (+1-617-783-7600 outside the U.S. and Canada)