The Cut YouTube channel likes to get people to think outside the box and reexamine their assumptions. They say: “Small questions have powerful effects when they go viral. Cut spreads stories for fun, for serious, and for real– bringing the internet together one awkward moment at a time,” about themselves and we absolutely love them for it.
In this viral video – viewed nearly 5 million times – they asked total strangers to match people to their careers based on a few simple questions and, of course, what they look like.
First, the people are given a list of professions and asked to read them out loud. The list contains professions ranging from teacher to funeral director and hair salon receptionist to exterminator.
Some of the people are already hesitant about guessing people’s professions. One of them saying that they’d feel guilty about guessing who an exterminator is because it could be that you think they look like they hang out around bugs and rodents all day.
Next, the lineup of people walk in and the “guessers” start to make their assumptions based on first impressions and looks.
One by one, the strangers come up to the guesser and they are asked simple questions to possibly guess who does what. Questions include things like “do you like children?” “do you have a lot of free time?” and even, jokingly, “are you high?”
Once the guessers have a chance to ask a few questions, get a feel for each person’s personality, and use their best “judging skills,” they hand each person a piece of paper with the profession they think is the best fit.
Each person in the group is so unique looking that the people that are guessing are trying their best to picture them in each professional scenario. Some of the women appear to “look like teachers” according to a few of the guessers. However, one of the young women that were guessing tried a tactic of going the opposite way. She chose a man that had tattoos as the teacher.
Next up is a woman with “great hair” so people assume she must be the hair salon receptionist. Then, a taller gentleman who was immediately associated with a rock band.
Once all of the people have had a chance to “assign” professions to each of the people in the lineup. It’s time to ask them how many they think they got right. Some people thought they at least got half of them correct while others had much more confidence and believed they guessed them all correctly.
Finally – it was time for the truth to be revealed. Can you really guess people’s professions based off of these few simple questions and a first impression?
The guesser is asked to turn around and by a show of hands, the lineup raises their hand if they were assigned the correct profession. Not shockingly, most people were completely misjudged. One guesser didn’t get any correct, another with two, and one.
Then – the lineup switches each other’s placards to reveal their real profession.
To say that the guessers were shocked at the reality of it all is an understatement. This viral video goes to show that you really cannot judge a book by its cover. Watch the entire experiment in the video below.
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