How well do you remember people's names?

[yoda313]

So are you pretty good at putting a name to a face??

I'm what I consider average. I can do a pretty good job of remembering somebody. Though I'm certainly not perfect by any means. How about you??

[gadgetguy]

I'm what I consider average. I can't remember names to save my soul.

[redwudz]

I hand most of them a business card and hope they give me one back, then I have no problem remembering. Otherwise I try to write down their names as soon as possible or they're lost forever. (I meet a lot of people in my job.)

At least I can remember their faces the next time we meet. Even more embarrassing when they remember my name and I can't remember theirs.

[DereX888]

no surprises with this poll hehe
IIRC from sociology classes: it is estimated that 60-75% of any population in any country can be considered 'below average' or outright 'thinking differently' (as in opposite to being smart )

[Bjs]

Above average ... But if it's a pc repair call out ... once seeing the pc , it remind's me who the owner is ... lol

[ZAPPER]

I voted average, but actually consider myself slightly below that. There is something wrong with my mind, A person can intorduce themselves and I will forget their name almost instantly. To remember it I almost have to hear someone else say the persons name. It is almost a running joke with a couple of people that know me well, as soon as a newly introduced person leaves the room my partner will say to me "That was..." and laugh at me as I scramble to enter their info into the phone or write it down.

[redwudz]

I have heard that one reason we forget peoples names easily is that we are more concerned with ourselves (Self-conscious) than we are about the other person during a first meeting. Some people, notably politicians among a few, can seem to remember everyone they have ever met, along with other information about them. I believe they do that by consciously working at it. It's probably not as important to the average person.

Writing down the persons name immediately or using memory tricks to associate their name with other things works best for me.

[ZAPPER]

Writing it down, saying it out loud or entering it on a keyboard all help to reinforce the memory, basically the more senses that you stimulate the better your chance of rembering/learning anything.


My boss has incredible memory and perception skills. He will not only recall names and phone numbers from memory (although he sometimes stammers for a second or two before the actual call out) but his attention to details is remarkable. He will recall carpet colors, wall, ceiling, fixture details and all sorts of information related to just about any set of blueprints or actual site visit that we are working on. His problem though is sharing the information with others. The stuff seems to come to him so easily that he tends to think that everyone else should know it too.

I have heard that matching color by memory is like one of the hardest things for someone to do, but my boss has amazed me several times with his talent.

I can't rember a single phone number thanks to the invention of the cellphone and its built in memory

[DereX888]

you tell me your name or number - i won't remember it next day.
But if I write it down or it was written somewhere and i read it - I will almost always remember it.
I can recall people's numbers from 10 years ago, or repeat most of the restaurants menus I read i.e. last year :P

[redwudz]

I had a friend about ten years ago with a 'photographic' memory. You could show him three or so pages from any book for just a few seconds and he could quote each and every word from the first to the last perfectly.

Unfortunately, he told me that the words had no meaning to him. He just repeated them without even knowing what they meant. He told me he could even do this with a foreign language that he couldn't pronounce. He could just repeat them from start to finish as he saw them, just like a tape recorder. It was fascinating to me, though, to think what the possibilities or capabilities were for the human brain.

I learned a method in college for remembering things. You associated a word five different and distinct ways. Say a name like Sky, you would associate with a sunset, and clouds, and Luke Skywalker and a song about the sky, and the color blue, and so on. After five associations you would remember the word or name. Fun to try. Make sure each association is different and you think about the association for a few seconds before going on to the next.

[That Bastid]

I met a girl who could recite, verbatim, all the dialogue for every episode of every television show she had ever seen, even if she'd only seen it once.

You could say something to her like, "Ok, the Brady Bunch episode where Marcia's friends sleep over," and she'd start just spitting it out, line after line after line.

It was pretty scary, actually.

[ZAPPER]

I had a pretty cool biology TA that sat the class of about 30 in a half circle. He then went around and asked everybody there names one at a time and then introduced them to the people on the left that had already given their names. When everyone had been introduced (some thrity times) it was the last persons (me) job to start at the begining and introduce everyone again, I did it first try including introducing Lori with an "I" and a couple of other details. The point of the exercise was to show that repitition was an important to in learning.

[ROF]

Average. I remember some, those that require me to remember. The rest I simply forget because if they aren't important why should I be bothered to remember their names or even their faces.

[BJ_M]

ditto - i never remember faces , everyone looks the same to me

[offline]

ditto that ditto.

I'm terrible with faces. Names I remember *if* I make an effort to commit them to memory in the first place.

[ZAPPER]

Now faces I remember. Where I worked with them or met them is the problem.

Another thing I think that contributes to my bad memory is perhaps a lack of formal introductions. Like guys come onto my jobsites and introduce themselves as the "Glass Guys" or by their company name and set about their work. I only perpetuate the problem by calling them the glass guys or the companys men.

I have helped coach some little league the past few years and spend all my time on the feild with the kids. I couldn't tell you more than a couple of parents names or what kid they belong to if my life depended on it. I hate running into them around town, they all know me and I just smile and ask how they have been.

My wife on the other hand knows the whole damn county and their kids and who is cheating on who and so on and so on. I think that it is a woman thing.

[mats.hogberg]

A little "funny" that a majority is "below average"! Kind of self contradicting...

/Mats

[thecoalman]

I see a lot of people and most of them once a year. I now their names because it's on the bill. Besides that I don't remember the face or the name of most of them. Always have people waving at me going down the road, never know who it is. Just wave back... "Hello you"...

What is odd though is can tell you what size coal they use just by seeing the house or hearing directions. There are only 4 major sizes I deal with but I can even remeber sizes for people I haven't dealt with in years. There's probably a thousand houses I could do that with. :P

[Baldrick]

Below below average, but good with faces.

[dvdguy4]

Below below average, but good with faces.

Thats exactly how I am.

[DereX888]

A little "funny" that a majority is "below average"! Kind of self contradicting...

/Mats

1 supergenius in a group of braindead morons would raise group's average IQ to about 'average'
Thats how most statistics work - they tell nothing and cloud perception of reality usually.

[mats.hogberg]

True - but not as fun!

/Mats

[dphirschler]

If most of us are below average, isn't that "average"?


Darryl

[Capmaster]

Average, I suppose.

Numbers stick. Names, movie titles, etc. ...don't