This article was taken from the January 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
The mapping of the alphabet on top of numbers on phone keypads has become so pervasive that it affects our understanding of numbers through verbal associations.
Psychologist Sascha Topolinski of the University of Würzburg asked participants in tests to dial numbers on an unmarked phone.
He found that people preferred to dial numbers that implied positive words, like 37326 -- spelling DREAM. Participants also rated companies as "attractive" if they had phone numbers implying a company-related word, such as 5683 (LOVE) for a dating agency.
Topolinski named this the "sensorimotor cipher" and says it is so inescapable that "businesses might manipulate potential customers by choosing a phone number that corresponds to their purpose".
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
