A Recent Tragedy

In light of the recent tragedy is Boston on Monday afternoon, I would like to add to the media coverage with a not-so-typical consumer behavior topic... The strength of the people who were there to help during this horrible event.

I'll keep this short and sweet, but the camaraderie which was witnessed of the people at the races was incredible. People rushing into dangerous grounds in a situation practically none of them have experienced before. Not just the officers and medical personel, the other runners and fans. Throwing themselves in harms way to protect their neighbor. A truly powerful display of one of the positive aspects of the human condition.

While I was earning my EMT license, we were taught how to manage and react to mass casualty situations/terrorist attacks like this one. And it's down right terrifying to think about. The good thing is no one was thinking during this time, everyone was just reacting. Living off of their basic instincts to drive them through. It was truly inspiring time, and the words of famous comedian Patton Oswalt sums it up almost perfectly...

Motivations & Decisions

I've always had a hard time finding out what sort of things motivate me the most, and that question has still gone unanswered. I continue to lose track of time, assignments, and deadlines. Which leads me to worry whether or not I put this stress on myself, or this was all scheduled chaos.

To draw in associations from recent readings, Predictably Irrational sheds light on a situation where procrastination is a major issue in students. The study showed how those who chose to make the deadlines of all of their projects near the end of the semester, they failed miserably. Those who did the opposite did much better compared to their peers. Sadly, it is MUCH harder to break a habit of procrastination, especially if it has positively reinforced you.

Although it has been shown that negative things influence us more than positive things (called negativity bias), that doesn't mean that positive things don't take hold. In my case with procrastination, time and time again it has paid off. For some unknown reason, when I put off an assignment 'till the last minute, I tend to do better overall even though I put less time into it. When writing a paper, if I start writing the day it is assigned and work on it slowly for the duration, although I am less stressed about writing, I seem to always perform worse. My only theories regarding this are maybe I'm not in the same mind set, and I am trying to hard to combine thoughts of my multiple moods. Or maybe I am using my stress of failure to extract the free flowing writing inside of me. Without any other influences on my mind besides the fear of falling, I can harness my inner ability. Without any inhibition, I can fluently convey a thought that otherwise was blocked by constant interference. Of course, this doesn't ALWAYS happen, but it happens more often than not.

Some research suggests that there is some credibility behind quick decisions, or choosing without time to think about it. In one of my psychology labs, I was listening to a talk about a study which showed that people  made decisions conditions of either no time delay, 5 minutes time delay, or 5 minutes of distracted time delay. The study showed that people made better decisions when they had to make a choice immediately, and were happier with their decision when asked about it. The unconscious mind is constantly processing information at a rate we can't quite comprehend. This kind of immediate processing sometimes makes our unconscious a better judge of things. It has the facts, and is not influenced by emotions. Emotions tend to get in the way of A LOT of social/personal problems. Which makes me sort of envious of sociopaths...

Back to the point. When making decisions, regardless of their importance, it is good to keep your motivations in mind and leave out as many emotions as possible. Some of the happiest moments of my life have come from impulsive responses, but they have also been the source of many disappointments. Either taking an adequate amount of time to think, or letting your unconscious mind take over in certain situations can be a highly beneficial tactic. As long as it is used properly, making an impulsive decision when it truly requires some thought could leave you in a more stressful place than you first imagined. If you are aware of which situations require certain tactics, you can better be prepared to make the most appropriate and pleasing decision in your near future. 

I hate Westboro Baptist Church...

Just sayin'...

The True Extension Of Ourselves (No Pun Intended)

As I search for a distraction from filling out grad school application, I keep returning to this blog to hopefully find some relief. However I am finding this a difficult distraction. Out of the first week of class nothing has quite blown me away yet. Besides the fact that most of my fellow students are quite open with their opinions and quite a bit more insightful than I was expecting. I have been pleasantly humbled and I like that. I have never experienced a discussion based course but so far it has been a good experienced, our human nature to debate and fight has made for some interesting back-and-forth. It's very entertaining. For those of you who know me I tend to sit in the posterior of the classroom and observe and make note of all my fellow classmates. This is not because I'm trying to be creepy, just being strategic. As an individual who is infatuated with human behavior I tend to constantly analyze those around me, and I have had a lot more to analyze than usual.


When it comes to the new material in the readings, it is amazing how many overlap there is between this and the psychology I love oh so much. Right down to the basics of human needs to social exchanges, there is an underlying psychological explanation. For example, the past few meetings we have been discussing items we associate with ourselves and consider a part of us. This drew my attention because it coincides with the most simple aspects of human behavior right down to our reptilian brain. The most essential and influential needs of humans is those of food, shelter, and too procreate (sex). One can relate something as their food, or their home, but the need for sex is the most relatable. Primitive and complex animals both display the same behaviors when it comes to sex; Bigger and more aggressive is how you secure your lineage. How can this be related? Well, let's take your possessions for example. All of us now-a-days tend to associate and connect our belongings as part of us, like we discussed in the reading. This expands our sense of self and others perception of us, this perception causes us to appear bigger than we actually are. These belonging don't have to be materials, they can range anywhere from job titles, whom you are friends with, and the causes you believe in. This self expansion has not quite replaced, but changed how sex is achieved. Back in the time when people would just kill each other and that was the deciding factor, we now have all these variables to consider to see who exactly is the bigger individual. Of course this is not true in all situations and all individuals, but this is undeniably an significant piece of our new social puzzle. Simply put, the expansion of our selves using belongings, occupations, beliefs, and actions causes the perception of ourselves to increase (of course, depending on who's perception), and in this case yes, bigger is better.

I am awaiting to see the benefits of blogging. "Narrate, Curate, and Share" definitely pointed out some good points for the benefits of blogging. But as a hyper-intrinsic, self motivating, high self monitor like myself it will be difficult to get the hang of this right away. Blogging will eventually allow all of our faceless, impersonal, low self monitor selves out for the world (or at least our class) to see. I commend all of you who are experienced bloggers, and I can see how this would be potentially addicting. I'm just waiting for that one topic that I have extensive knowledge on and have been looking for an opportunity to speak more about it. For now, this little explanation of myself, my thought process, and my critiques will have to do.

Cheers.

TL; DR: Let's give this a try. Sex is the basis of everything. This is hard. I'll do better next time.

Alright everyone!

It has been a LONG time since I've blogged anything so let's give this a shot. We'll just consider this a test post and until there is any kind of real content to be read this will just be a filler. Looking forward to reading everyones outlooks and experiences as you describe them. For those of you who are still reading I guess I'll end it here.

Cheers.