#Human Behavior

[brittmarihaxoxo-blog]

[myfandomrealitea]

Fireworks and balloons are actually a perfect example of human entitlement in terms of "my right to enjoyment outweighs the consequences and risks even to other people."

Like the environmental impact alone of fireworks and balloons are well documented as devastating but people will still threaten to kill you for suggesting only silent fireworks should be sold or that balloon releases should be recategorized as illegal.

I think the one that really gets me is when people insist on defending balloon releases in honor of the dead despite the fact that people, animals and nature over-all have been killed and suffer due to them.

[stone-cold-groove]

Your summer reading list: Family and Class Dynamics in Mental Illness. Jerome K. Myers - 1964.

[we-are-ignited]

One of my favorite “weirdly human” things is when you don’t necessarily believe in something but you still respect it/wont fuck with it.

Idk it feels so…distinctly human and it’s my favorite thing

[salamanderinspace]

Praxis

"Consider, for example, the so-called fear experiments conducted by the social psychologist Howard Levanthal in the 1960s. Levanthal wanted to see if he could persuade group of college seniors at Yale University to get a tetanus shot. He divided them up into several groups, and gave all of them a seven-page booklet explaining the dangers of tetanus, the importance of inoculation, and the fact that the university was offering free tetanus shots at the campus health center to all interested students. The booklets came in several versions. Some of the students were given a "high fear" version, which described tetanus in dramatic terms and included color photographs of a child having a tetanus seizure and other tetanus victims with urinary catheters, tracheotomy wounds, and nasal tubes. In the "low fear" version, the language describing the risks of tetanus was toned down, and the photographs were omitted. Levanthal wanted to see what impact the different booklets had on the students' attitudes toward tetanus and their likelihood of getting a shot.

The results were, in part, quite predictable. When they were given a questionnaire later, all the students appeared to be well educated about the dangers of tetanus. But those who were given the high-fear booklet were more convinced of the dangers of tetanus, more convinced of the importance of shots, and were more likely to say that they intended to get inoculated. All of those differences evaporated, however, when Levanthal looked at how many of the students actually went and got a shot. One month after the experiments, almost none of the subjects - a mere 3 percent - had actually gone to the health center to get inoculated. For some reason, the students had forgotten everything they had learned about tetanus, and the lessons they had been told weren't translating into action. The experiment didn't stick."

-from Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point"

Look we know that bullying and shaming and scaring people doesn't actually get them to change their behaviors or beliefs. It's important to note it does get them to change what they say they believe. This is why you have leftist spaces where people claim to want a better, gentler world while actively bullying the shit out of each other. People emulate. They emulate message and they emulate action.

If your goal is to make a community of people who are all signaling virtue loud and hard - claiming they never use AI or shop at Target or whatever the moral panic of the day is - then yeah, go ahead and terrify. Go ahead and threaten. But if your goal is to make a world where we all actually treat each other well, you have to look at how you're living.

Also I truly think bullies-for-the-greater-good underestimate the power of spite. People will act out against you just because you're trying to control them with fear.

[mace-waz-here]

One of the things I love about us humans is how easily we attach to things. Whether it be alive or not, we will feel such a strong surge of love for a thing that we treat it like a kid. Pets, stuffed animals, plants, even books and computers. We’re so quick to call anything our baby, or at least act like it just so long as we feel a connection with it. For the most part at least, I think we all, even if we don’t want kids, have an evolutionary parental instinct, and especially after puberty, we will see anything cute or that we love and let that instinct take over

An even less physical example of this is people latching onto characters like this. A character they particularly related to especially, if not already a kid. And we do it with things that can be very much so older than us.

[she-is-ovarit]

Regularly venting about other people or judging others for mistakes or miscommunications in a negative light persistently, especially within a workplace, is a behavior that I hope becomes unlearned. It's contagious and if we catch ourselves doing it, we shouldn't lean in. It creates in-groups and out-groups, creates an environment in which everyone including those venting feel unsafe, and just generally lacks a trauma-informed perspective.

I'm not talking about venting and judgement that may be a proportionate response to sexual harassment or other exploitive behavior. But someone slacking at their job duties because they're understaffed and/or overworked, misunderstanding an email or a conversation, forgetting details mentioned in a meeting, etc.—these are all very human errors which may occur especially during the flaring up of traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, illnesses or disabilities, exhaustion, side effects of medications, and so on.

Venting, casting judgement, blaming, etc. creates distrust and lack of emotional safety, fragments human groups and teams, and contributes to a really toxic environment.

[studiesofanalienplanet]

There is actually a very fundamental principle in Human interaction, but barely someone ever talks about it. It’s not altruism, although it often gets mixed up with it. But there is the fundamental principle of helping and getting help. Like when I go and do something to help you, it’s with the fundamental concept and agreement, that if I ask you for help at some point, you’ll help me back.

And you can find the principle all over. It’s the only reason todays societies are functioning. They do so on the principle of „I contribute to the wellbeing of the group and so the group helps me back.“

If you want it’s the basic concept of splitting up work.

And here is the thing why group projects are so rarely liked. If you contribute something to the project, but the others or one of them doesn’t put in the amount of work or resources they should, this fundamental principle gets violated.

And that’s something people instinctively know. Except for a few individuals which you might call „Egoists“. Because for a few individuals it pays off to not do the work and surf on the other peoples „I help you, so…“

But at some point, if you have too many people who have forgotten the „so I help you back“ part, the system crumbles. Because if I can’t pay my help forward and trust to get helped back in return, when I need help. Then it doesn’t pay off for me. And I stop offering „I help you, so…“

But the problem is, that a lot of the activities of the past decades has been practically aimed at destroying this fundamental principle. We put people on pedestals who violate this principle on a daily basis. We put people on pedestals, who exploit that principle and take and take and take from people, amassing resources for themselves. And then they tell everyone „Do the same. Stop holding up your side of the bargain.“

And some people listen, because they can see it is working for them. And then you have one more person not holding up the principle of equal exchange. And the whole concept crumbles a little bit more.

That’s the state of the world we a in right now. Too many people have stopped believing in the fundamental principle of human help economy.

They are still a minority by the way. But the harm they do on the world is real. And it has gone into the degree where people are seeing that the principle gets violated. And start to demand change.

[tmarshconnors]

Graphology: The Study of Handwriting

Graphology, the study of handwriting, offers intriguing insights into personality and behavior. I find it fascinating how the way we write can reveal aspects of our character—our emotions, motivations, and even how we interact with the world.

Graphologists analyze various elements of handwriting, including size, slant, pressure, and spacing, to interpret individual traits. While some consider it a pseudoscience, the connection between our writing style and psychological characteristics is an engaging area of exploration.

Understanding graphology can enhance our self-awareness and improve communication. It offers a unique lens through which we can examine ourselves and others, providing insights into human nature that may otherwise remain hidden.

[er-cryptid]

Cultural Anthropology

Patreon

[velvetporcelain]

I knew it.

[stone-cold-groove]

Your summer reading list: Personal Space. The Behavioral Basis of Design. Robert Sommer - 1969.

[and-prayers]

linguistics/human behavior people, I have a question and i'd love some input:

I have observed that when people sing (even just an average scale) in a physically exerting way (reaching high/low notes, singing fast, etc), their face contorts.

Does this have to do with how humans have been conveying information through body language and sound for generations and it’s coded into our genetics through evolution?

I was thinking about testing something out by mapping average facial movement to respective sounds by conducting a survey of sorts and using varying musical scales and age ranges, but i'm not sure how much basis the idea has or even any practical implications of a significant conclusion...

[brittmarihaxoxo-blog]