According to research cited in Wired, travelers seem to think that south-bound routes are shorter than north-bound ones of the same length. The authors of the study explain the effect by a common perception that north is "up" on all maps, therefore people instinctively associate "north/up" with working against gravity.

For journeys that averaged 798 miles, time estimates for north-going jaunts averaged one hour and 39 minutes more than south-going trips, he and his colleagues report in an upcoming Memory & Cognition.

“This finding suggests that when people plan to travel across long distances, a ‘north is up’ heuristic might compromise their accuracy in estimating trip durations,” Brunyé says.

Moving up through a company hierarchy is also more difficult than down. It must be the gravity :)

tag: psychology, effect, example