"Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?"​ - An Intriguing Response!

Words: 218 | Reading Time: 1 min | Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 10.2

The question is:

Is the glass half empty or half full?

question

And it is supposed to test your Psychological preference to being an Optimist or Pessimist as the Optimist assumes half-full and the Pessimist assumes half-empty. But what the question Fails to account for is if an individual is a Scientist. That is, what if we took a logical and quantitative approach to a qualitative question?

einstein

A Scientist would answer the above question like this:

'Scientific Response'The glass contains 50% liquid by volume, be it water or another liquid, and 50% gases which, if one assume a natural Earth atmosphere, contains 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen by volume.

This response is rather direct and circumvents the anticipated psychological and qualitative response all together by changing the game to a Logical plane. The questioner would no doubt feel very frustrated by this response because they cannot assess Pessimism or Optimism of the individual being questioned. Science is such a party pooper!

Next time when someone tries to ask you a cute question like "Is the glass half empty or half full?" take the Logical approach and negate the question altogether. Play this angle smartly so as to not offend the questioner too much!

Critical thinking is in woefully short supply. Be safe out there and use Logic and Reason carefully.

suckers

Repost of my article on LinkedIn. Feel free to add me as a connection and follow for the latest.

7 Comments
 

Though I'm a student, I really doubt any self-respecting firm would ask this question in an interview. It's way too stereotypical and doesn't show anything real about the applicant

 

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