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Key points
- Research suggests that more than a quarter of the things that people hide are never found.
- When you need to stash something, there are better and worse spots to consider.
- To assure success, plan ahead and practice mentally retrieving the item's hiding place before walking away.
By Alan Brown, Ph.D., with Anne Cleary, Ph.D.
When I was five, I had the great fortune to win a version of a kids’ lottery. My favorite TV show was hosted by a local media cowboy, who deftly managed a mix of short films, odd puppets, lively sidekicks, and children in a mini-bleacher during his show. Each week, he would draw the name of a lucky child’s entry from the home audience to chat with live, on the air. When my day arrived, my appearance fell seriously short of launching my media career. However, the producers sent me a silver dollar as a thank you.
That summer long ago, the money was sufficient to fund a month’s worth of ice cream bars from the traveling Good Humor truck. Given that I lived with an older brother who had serious boundary issues, I was determined to protect my prize. I hid the coin in a safe place where he would never find it. Unfortunately, neither did I, despite dozens of frustrating searches over many months. To this day, I don’t know if it is still in the forgotten hiding spot, or if my brother used it to invest in IBM.
Have you done likewise—hidden something valuable from a sibling, parent, landlord, or nosy roommate? Maybe you’re a parent who hides birthday presents and holiday gifts from your children. Or, with the holiday season upon us, maybe you are beginning to hide gifts around your house from members of your household.
Most of us have hidden something at some point, and with great confidence, we assume we will later easily find the item again. Even if the search is successful, many people discover that later finding the hidden item is a bit more challenging than expected. My research study showed that more than a quarter of the things that we hide are never found. Also aggravating is that the study showed that even when we are successful, it usually takes us two or more sweeps of the same locations—and in the same sequential order.
Adding to the challenge, the study also showed that we usually wait weeks between hiding and searching, increasing the likelihood that we will forget that special, secret location. Finally, if you happen to be in a rush when hiding something, then that divided attention can affect memory encoding.
Imagine having a wad of cash on your desk and your always-broke roommate just pulled in the driveway, or an iPad on your lap to hide from a would-be burglar, just as your airport Uber arrives to start your vacation getaway. Perhaps you’re attempting to conceal a newly purchased present just as your child bursts through the front door after being dropped off from a playdate.
Good Hiding Places Are Not Good Remembering Places
Why do we have this disconnect between our confidence in how well we can hide stuff (100 percent!) and our success in finding it (75 percent)? The most fundamental problem is that we pick a place where we are sure nobody will look. Unfortunately, this is exactly why we, too, can’t find it later.
We make two incorrect assumptions in identifying an odd location:
- It is unlikely that somebody else will look there
- It will provide us with a unique cue for easy remembering
There are two problems with this. First, if we thought of it, others probably would, too. Second, an unusual location makes a poor memory reminder because the object and place are mismatched, by design, and thus do not link easily with each other.
This Hiding Valuables Caution is Becoming More Important
Aside from the hurried pre-vacation stash, appreciating the various aspects of hiding valuables is important for several other reasons. Current economic reality has increased the number of people living under one roof—college graduates are moving back home; retired grandparents are merging households with kids and grandkids; a new roommate helps split living expenses. We may need to protect privacy, conversations, and valuables from others living with us.
Another factor is the growing number of elderly adults, many of whom experience increased memory challenges as they age. An acquaintance told me about her 80-year-old mother who bribed residence staff to smuggle contraband cigarettes to her. She hid them in various places in her apartment, and then promptly forgot where the smokes were. How did we find them? We consulted a thief.
In his book, a reformed burglar famously recommended the best and worst places to stash valuables.
Tips for Hiding and Finding Valuables
The best thief-approved locations for hiding valuables are:
- Hollowed out books
- Shoeboxes on closet shelves
- Pockets of clothes in the closet
And the worst?
- The drawers of a dresser in the bedroom.
We usually found the cigs in her sock drawer. They were also “hidden” in a rather unusual location, under her sofa right where she often sat when receiving the goods.
What to Do If You Can't Find Where You Hid Something
Say it's time to retrieve those hidden gifts and bring them out for the big day and you cannot find all of them, or you return from your trip and are getting worried because you cannot find your hidden valuables. First, do not panic and take a break from your search efforts.
Next, go back to the first place that you looked, but check again. More often than not, your first impulse is correct. Except this time, go a bit higher (shelf above) or lower (underneath the dresser), or check a spot slightly to the right or to the left of where you looked earlier.
How to Hide Something to Make Sure You Don't Forget Later
How can you increase the likelihood that you will locate your hidden valuables when it is time to find them? First, plan ahead. Don’t wait until you hear the knock on the door or feet climbing the stairs.
Decide on a hiding place a day, rather than minutes, ahead of time. This avoids the mental challenges associated with the fog of a panicked, last-minute effort. Don’t make the location memory compete with the other mental distractions that accompany being in a hurry.
Second, try creating distinctive mental images to increase your likelihood of remembering. For instance, say the location aloud: “I am hiding my valuable watch behind the TV.” Or create a mental snapshot. Take a selfie next to the location, study the pic a few times, and then delete it in case someone gets ahold of your phone.
Perhaps the best guarantee of finding the valuable is retrieval practice. Put the item into, and then remove it, from the hiding spot several times, and affix the mental picture of plucking the treasure from its hiding place. Just don’t let your housemates see you going through any of this.
Alan Brown, Ph.D., is an emeritus professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University.
Facebook/LinkedIn image: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock
References
Brown, A. S., & Rahhal, T. A. (1994). Hiding valuables: A questionnaire study of mnemonically risky behavior. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 141-154.
Hamilton, L., Fay, S., & Rockwood, K. (2009). Misplacing objects in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease: A descriptive analysis from the VISTA clinical trial. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 80, 960–965.
Roediger, H. L. III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17, 249–255.
Winograd, E., & Soloway, R. M. (1986). On forgetting the locations of things stored in special locations Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115, 366-372.
