The goat test: how three thieves stole a goat with words

Transcript

There's a Panchatantara story that changed the way I think where three themes steal a goat without even touching it. They just talk the owner out of it. A Brahmin is carrying a goat home on his shoulders. The first thief walks past him and asks him why he's carrying a dog on his shoulders. And he laughs it off. A little later the second one asks why he's carrying a dead calf and now he isn't really so sure. So when a third one asks why he's carrying a donkey, he puts the goat down and walks off and the thieves take it. In the 50s a psychologist in America ran something very similar. He showed people three lines and asked which one matched a fourth and the answer was obvious. But the room was full of actors and they all gave the same wrong answer. And about three quarters of the real people went along with the group at least once. But when they could write their answer down and try it, most of that went away. So they could see the right line perfectly well. Why did they go along then? Because it was hard to say it out loud in that way. It's rarely one wise that changes your mind about a plan you love. It's usually the third person who says it. So you're at a cousin's wedding and one uncle calls your start-up a nice hobby and you laughed it off. Then an auntie asks when you're getting a real job and now you're not so sure. And by the time a third relative calls it time pass, you're thinking about putting the goat down. So that's the goat test. Before you put down an idea because three people called it something else, write down what you saw with your own eyes before anyone else gets a say. More often than you think it still levels.

Transcribed automatically from the video, so small errors are possible.