Expected findings
Number & Names of Continents
Even though most people got the correct number of continents, most could not name them all without any prompting. Only 3 subjects correctly answered that there are 7 continents and could list them all. |
Size of the Continents
When it comes to judging the size of the continents, two common errors arose. People underestimated the size of Africa, as we expected. It was ranked at 3.2 when in fact it is the second largest continent. Similarly, Europe was placed 4.8 on average, when it is the sixth largest continent, bigger only than Australia. |
Locational Misconceptions
As described in "Clarification of Selected Misconceptions in Physical Geography", locational misconceptions are widely prevalent. Six out of nine subjects placed South America directly below North America, when in fact the westernmost part of South America is east of the easternmost part of North America.
As described in "Clarification of Selected Misconceptions in Physical Geography", locational misconceptions are widely prevalent. Six out of nine subjects placed South America directly below North America, when in fact the westernmost part of South America is east of the easternmost part of North America.
unexpected findings
Peters Projection Perplexes
People don’t like the look of the Peters map. They said that it was not pretty, it seems distorted, and it just plain looks weird. |
Gestalt Principle
People don’t recognize the shapes of the continents. This is probably related to the principle of gestalt: people would recognize the whole (the map of the world) but not the parts (the individual continents). We are so used to seeing a whole map you don’t recognized the continents singled out. |
Knowledge About Antarctica is Poor
When asked to rank the geographic size of Antarctica, the average ranking was not far off from the actual. Our subjects placed it at 4.2 when its real ranking was 5. But a closer look at the actual scores reveals that no one we interviewed was close to the mark. Five subjects ranked it as the smallest or second smallest continent; four subjects ranked it as the largest or second largest. Furthermore, three out of nine of the subjects positioned Antarctica in the north pole, and many commented on being confused by its shape. People did not know what to do with this continent.
When asked to rank the geographic size of Antarctica, the average ranking was not far off from the actual. Our subjects placed it at 4.2 when its real ranking was 5. But a closer look at the actual scores reveals that no one we interviewed was close to the mark. Five subjects ranked it as the smallest or second smallest continent; four subjects ranked it as the largest or second largest. Furthermore, three out of nine of the subjects positioned Antarctica in the north pole, and many commented on being confused by its shape. People did not know what to do with this continent.