Compared to the control groups who, remember, were unaware of any of this rude behaviour, the groups that witnessed rudeness did far worse on their tasks. Somehow, that rudeness created a roadblock in their minds. Those who witnessed the latecomer being talked about rudely solved 33 per cent fewer anagrams and came up with nearly 40 per cent fewer ideas for creative uses for a brick. Those who met our ‘busy professor’ – who still sounds like he was wearing a trench coat and a fake moustache – were 61 per cent worse at anagrams and produced 58 per cent fewer ideas for unusual brick use than
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