The weight of numbers

I have just read a very interesting fact. Numbers have a very specific impact on our perception, on our brains.


If we ask someone "What is the population of Turkey?", with no reference, that person will have a difficult time giving a number.
If that question is asked in the following way: "Is the population of Turkey larger than 5 million people?" And the person says yes. "What is the population?" That person will say a number around 7 million.
If the same question had been asked like this: "Is the population of Turkey smaller than 200 million people?" And the answer had been yes. When right after, we asked that person, what is the population that Turkey has. The answer given would have been that Turkey had a population of around 180 million.


There are multiple studies that back the fact that numbers biase the way humans perceive the world. 


It is interesting for somebody like me, a scientist, that spends days surrounded by numbers, that actually those numbers that I use to back my hypothesis will have the power to bias my thoughts.


I think that I will trust my gut feelings a little more after having learnt this. At least, I will feel less guilty when I will insist on something that numbers do not seem to back immediately. 


I will stop believing in numbers blindly.