The brainpower of University of California, San Diego and Yale University have combined, and this is what they hath wrought: If your first or last name begins with a C or a D, you’re more likely to get bad grades. Also, if you’re a baseball player whose initials include a K — which means strikeout — you’re more likely to strike out.
The study, conducted by UCSD’s Leif Nelson and Yale’s Joseph Simmons, “demonstrates the power of the unconscious mind in controlling behavior in certain situations,” Reuters reported. Nelson and Simmons are publishing the study in Psychological Science journal.
But take heart, young Connies and Davids of the world: You’re in the company of high achievers Carl Cohn (San Diego Unified superintendent), theorist Charles Darwin, philosopher Rene Descartes, and chemist Marie Curie. Plus, an A-list name doesn’t make you a genius. Just look at Al Bundy.