Abscond

Can you tell these researchers apart?

How would you react if someone you were speaking to suddenly absconded, then reappeared as a new person? According to a Harvard experiment, you probably wouldn’t notice at all. Two researchers with different hairstyles, faces, and colors of shirts teamed up to perform this very action on several volunteers. When a volunteer handed a consent form to the experimenter behind a desk, he took it, ducked, and scuttled away as the second experimenter popped up in his place. Seventy-five percent of volunteers said they noticed no change in the person.

Abscond (ab-SKOND)

Run away, depart secretly

Etymology

Formed in 1560s from Latin abscondere, which means “to hide, conceal”. Abscondere comes from ab(s), meaning “away” + condere, meaning “put together, store”.

Synonyms

disappear, vanish, decamp, hightail

Source

Youtube: Experimental Psychology