Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough. — George Bernard Shaw
The following is not a riddle; there is no “clever answer” at the end of it. Simply respond (mentally or to your computer screen) with the first answer that comes to mind:
Imagine you have a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday. The meeting is moved forward two days. Which day is the meeting on?
In case you suffered severe head trauma between paragraphs, or you didn’t really believe me (totally understandable but nonetheless offensive), there is no “right” answer to that question. Well, that’s not true. There are two right answers to that question:
Monday or Friday. However, whichever one you initially chose reflects a bit of your perception of the world.
Over here in the social psychology department, mind games are bandied about with every greeting. You can’t get up to go to the bathroom without wondering if someone had mentally primed you or imposed the reactance effect, all in attempt to make you exit so he or she can talk about you behind your back.
But with this particular question, I am merely testing your temporal perception.
Because “moved forward” is an ambiguous term, both Monday or Friday are logical responses; however, your selection carries quite varying implications.
If you chose Monday, you see time as an object of motion rather than the self. Time is perceived as a river running toward you. Rather than you moving forward through time, you see it coming at you (hence, you saw the meeting moving toward you rather than away).
If you chose Friday, you see the self as moving through time. Under this viewpoint, the river is running away from you. Rather than waiting for time to come to you, you actively seek control of it (hence, the meeting moved ahead like an object you chase).
Regardless of which day you selected, there are positives and negatives to both. If you take too much control of time, it puts undue stress on your expectations. If you don’t take control of time enough, you may be too passive, waiting for things to happen to you rather than seeking them out yourself.
Amazing how a simple question like that can reveal something so pertinent about you.
And this is only my second week here.
Timely,
jdt
Frangi
awww shoot, what about people who chose sunday hahaha
jdt
There’s no hope for you then… 😛
Snodgrass
So I would have to disagree with you here on several levels. First off I would choose Monday. But I don’t perceive time as a thing moving towards me while I’m standing still. I chose monday because culturally here in the U.S. the term “moving forward” in this context is used as a synonym for “sooner”. The same is true with the opposite. If you were to ask the question but instead of ‘moving forward’ replace it with ‘moving backwards’ the answer wouldn’t be monday as well because culturally the phrase ‘moving backwards’ in that context means “later”. This is of course a cultural phenomena that you would find true for the majority but not clearly for everyone as shown by Dr. Derp and jdt’s answers.
I also disagree with this idea that if you choose one or the other, either monday or friday, that means that your perception of time is different. Personally, I see time more like the state that you equated with the friday answer. The individual is moving through time rather than standing still with time coming at them. In almost every other context in my life when discussing the term ‘moving forward’ I would assume a future date from where I currently am. However, in this context the term ‘moving forward’ is socially constructed to mean something different. This is most likely due to the fact that when we are discussing a future event (one in which we have not arrived) and thus our perception of time is shifted. When we use the term moving forward in this context for a future event its almost as if it is implying that the event is moving forward closer to us, closer to where we are in the present. But of course I attribute this shift to a cultural habit and custom not the actual definition of the phrase “moving forward”.
Dr. Derp
I said Friday, right now I do see the future as something I chase, if I were being totally honest
jdt
I, too, chose Friday when I first heard it. Seems great minds must think alike
Party
I chose Monday since that timeframe was used in my corporate experience
Dr. Derp
I chose Friday, probably because I’m working towards a lot of things that I see as achievable and the biggest hindrance is time, simply needing more time to work towards things like graduation, making the next career step, etc. Moving something forward just felt like moving it away from me. Interesting concept.