Today I received my mark for a take-home midterm I wrote a few weeks ago. The mark was 91%, which is a fantastic grade, however, only slightly above normal. So why was I so much more happy with that mark than I would be if I'd received say, an 89?
Well, I could shrug it off as just being a good mark and leave it at that. But no, the nerd is not capable of letting things go. You see, if my usual grade for a class was an 80, and I received an 82, that's hardly worth celebrating, it's simply good for a sigh of relief. However if I normally received an 89 and instead received a 91, somehow that change is much more significant than the previous 3-point difference.
I have not researched this topic (yet), however I do know that some research has been done concerning numbers and our individual perceptions differ across digits. Not only do the individual digits contribute to our perceptions, I would wager that an important factor is crossing the threshold between 80s and 90s (or 70s and 80s, etc). When the first digit changes, as opposed to simply the second digit, it suddenly seems as though more change has been achieved, and thus more achievement.
This phenomenon demonstrates yet another way that people are irrational, however, it does make good sense. More visual change intuitively seems like it would lead to more actual change. This is not so, but it seems like it would be a useful tool; both in the sense that this perceptual anomaly may be a good mental short-cut in most cases and in the sense that it could be exploited, and has been within marketing and business.
Should this be exploited by professors in order to gain the trust and approval of their students? Ensure that initial grades are in the upper portion of a range, just on the cusp of the next higher grade, and then ensure that the students' marks cross that threshold. What other possible implications could there be? I invite readers to comment on any research they may be aware of or any ideas they have on the subject.
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