Would you have noticed?
One morning, a casual looking guy pulls out a violin and starts busking to people emerging from a tube station to go to work.
Six classical pieces and 43 minutes later, over 1000 people had passed.
Would you have stopped and listened?
Probably not – who does?
The difference here is that the busker was actually Joshua Bell, a world famous violinist, once a child prodigy, playing on a $3.5m Stradivari, three days after filling Boston’s Symphony Hall for over $100 a seat.
Its a perfect experiment to test the strength of recognition, genuine appreciation and values in a different context, with some conformity pressure thrown in too (if everyone else is passing by… then there’s no reason to stop, right?)
So what happened?
Really great lesson in perception and what we value...