Our expectations shape our experiences: Presumably, people assumed that if they recognised the name of the poet, the poem was probably a good one. If they didn’t know the name, they could still decide it was a good one, but it would probably take more work to come to that conclusion. The brain didn’t have a signal of the poem’s quality, so it couldn’t jump straight to a higher ranking without considering it carefully. On the other hand, expecting a famous poet's poem to be great probably increased the enjoyment in reading the poem anyway.​

When Joshua Bell was playing his violin at the subway station, it may have been a similar process. He was wearing regular clothes, busking while people travelled to work. There was nothing to signal – aside from the beautiful performance – that people should pay attention. No sign, no suit, no paparazzi.

Read More