I know I can’t be the only one who feels like getting somewhere takes sooooo much longer than the ride back! Scientists have recently discovered that if the first leg of your trip seems longer than the way back, it’s not because things look familiar. See what the real reason is after the jump!
The study, led by assistant professor of social psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands Niels van de Ven, tracked 350 people who took trips by bicycle or bus or watched a video of a person taking a bicycle ride.
Findings published in scientific journal the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review show volunteers on average reported their return trips were 22 per cent faster than the outward journey – even when the distances travelled were equal and similar landmarks were seen.
Among 97 volunteers who biked through a forest presented with two, equally distant routes, the average estimated the outbound journey took 44 minutes compared with 37 minutes on the way back. Both routes took 35 minutes to ride.
Van de Ven explained in a statement: ‘People often underestimate how long the outward journey takes and this is therefore experienced as longer (than it is).
‘Based on that feeling, the traveller expects the return journey to be long as well, and this then turns out to be shorter than expected.’
He hypothesises travellers are more optimistic about the first leg of their trip and adjust their expectations when it takes longer than they hoped.
Exceptions do exist, however, such as with a daily commute, when more reasonable expectations are set; and when travelling to a negative place or to an appointment, where you might arrive early, making the travel time back appear more slow.
Similarly, physical exertion and change in terrain, for example running an marathon course when you might be exhausted on the way back, would not share the characteristics of the ‘return trip effect’.
