Let’s play a game: take out a piece of paper and a pencil, draw a circle. Yeah, that’s all! How did you draw it? Clockwise or counterclockwise? Did you start at the top, or you went along with Drake? This sounds ridiculously weird, but stay with us. Let’s face it: How you draw a circle could really reveal a lot about you than you thought. Let’s explain!
Related media: How To Draw A Circle
How Do You Go Round?
If you’re from the West — that’s mainly North America and Europe — there’s an 86 percent chance that you drew your circle counterclockwise, whereas 80 percent of people from Asia — such as China and Japan — drew it clockwise. How did we know? Google released an AI game in November of 2016 known as “Quick, Draw!” Users were given a drawing prompt to draw (you guessed it) a circle. Google’s algorithm then tried to guess how you would draw your circle in just 20 seconds or less. How did they do that?
Well, Quartz later used Google’s data of over 119,000 circles and crunched the numbers to reveal how people drew circles differently. They found that the motion in which you draw a circle is somewhat “linked to geography and cultural upbringing, deep-rooted in hundreds of years of written language, and significant in developmental psychology and trends in education today.” Applying a little bit of geometry, and ta-da, your circle tells where you’re from.
What Goes Around Is Surely A Circle
There are only two techniques in drawing a circle: either clockwise or counterclockwise. Where you come from plays a significant role as to how and why you draw a circle. Wondering why? It likely boils down to your language.
As Quartz explains: “Both Japanese and Chinese scripts follow a strict stroke order. On the whole, characters are drawn from top left in the direction of the bottom right.”
In a 1985 study (that’s how long it’s been), it reveals that most native Chinese people draw circles clockwise (perhaps because of the clockwise strokes in semi-cursive Chinese calligraphy). Making strokes in eastern countries is really important, and as a matter of fact, it “can even signal education level.” Whereas in the West, people are taught to draw shapes counterclockwise in order to learn motor skills for the “Magic C” letter formation — for instance, most curvy letters like “c,” “g,” “q,” and “o.”
What Does The Future Holds?
What else do you think your circle reveal about you? Your sex drive. Just kidding! Well, there’s quite a few psychological research on the topic since before 1997, but as Quartz points out, this might be due to an increase of communication through typing and tapping. Now, thinking about that thought, if the means by which we scribble tells us so much about where we’re from, what do you think how we type and tap would tell in the future? Time will tell.
To be continued…
Read more facts like this one in your inbox. Sign up for our daily email here.
The Factionary is ever ready to provide you with more interesting content for your reading pleasure. If you’re amazed by our work, you can support us on Patreon with a donation fee of your choice. Thank you!
Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Mon, Jun 03, 2019.