How can a Xerox machine help us better understand human thinking?
Subject: Because Justification - Xerox Study
Event: Electrophotography patented, 1942
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. -Galileo Galilei
On this day in 1942, Chester F. Carlson (1906-1968) received a patent for his invention, electrophotography. His discovery was a giant leap in the history of publishing. For centuries making a copy of a single document was arduous and time-consuming. Electrophotography, or xerography as it came to be called, is fast and easy.
Unlike previous wet copy processes, Carlson’s process was “dry.” First, an electrostatic image of the original document was created on a rotating metal drum; then, with the help of toner – powdered ink – a copy was transferred to a piece of paper and the print was sealed in place by heat (1).
To differentiate the name of his invention – electrophotography – from print photography, Carlson searched for a new term. He settled first on the word xerography from the Greek xeros (meaning “dry”) and graphein (meaning “writing”). Xerography later became Xerox because of Carlson’s admiration for the name Kodak, the iconic American photography company. Carlson especially liked the fact that the name Kodak was nearly a palindrome (a word that is spelled the same frontwards and backward). Adding an “x” at the end of his invention’s name, Carlson reasoned, would give it the same memorable ring. Thus, Xerox, the word that would become synonymous with duplication, was born (2).
More than thirty years after the invention of Xerox, in the 1970s, Harvard psychologist Elle Langer used a copy machine to do more than just make copies; she used it to better understand human thinking.
Langer conducted her research in a library where people lined up to make photocopies. She began by attempting to cut in line, asking the person in front, ‘Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?’ She found that this approach resulted in success approximately 60% of the time.
Next, Langer again approached the first person in line, but this time she added a reason to her request, asking, “Excuse me. I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?’ This approach yielded success 94% of the time.
The most surprising result of Langer’s study, however, came with her third approach. This time she presented the first person in line with a nonsensical reason: ‘Excuse me. I have five pages. May I go before you, because I have to make some copies?’ Even though she presented a pretext that made her no different from everyone else waiting to make copies, she achieved success in an astonishing 93% of cases. As Langer’s Xerox study showed, people crave reasons -- even unreasonable ones. One word --“because” -- can make a big difference (3).
The name of the concept behind Langer’s study is called the because justification, which means, “I think; therefore, I need reasons.”
Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: What is the Because Justification, and how did the contrasting words used in the Xerox study reveal the power of reasoning?
Challenge - Ten Reasons in the Tenth Month: The because justification reveals the fact that people want reasons to believe. Think of a claim that you believe in strongly enough that you could support it with at least 10 reasons. State your claim and support it by listing your reasons. “Ten reasons that Halloween should always be on a Saturday” or “Ten reasons that we should/or should not celebrate Columbus Day.”
Sources:
1-Thompson, Clive. “How the Photocopier Changed the Way We Worked — and Played.” Smithsonian Magazine March 2015.
2- Owen, David. Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008: 146.
3-Weinschenk, Susan. “The Power of the Word ‘Because’ to Get People to Do Stuff.” www.psychologytoday.com 15 October 2013.
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