New Haven, Conn., December 3, 2009 — Maps depict northern locations to be above southern locations, and our speech commonly describes north to be above south (e.g., "up north" and "down south"). According to a study published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Marketing Research, the well-learned association between vertical position and cardinal direction leads people to erroneously infer that northern locations are physically above southern locations, which in turn shapes consumers’ judgments and choices.