Gently Down The Stream

Navigating the Literary Labyrinth

Category: behavioural science

conquering fear

behavioural science / Interesting Facts / Social Science

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Stress, stress and more stress

Stress that saves, Stress that harms, And the stress that we love. Varied kinds of stresses surround us ! Day to day stresses  When people mention the term stress, they invariably imply chronic stress, the silent killer of modern, fast-paced life that wreaks havoc on your health. In this post, let’s see how stress evolved, and know about a third kind of stress that people seem to enjoy. Dichotomy of stress The acute stress response is an adaptive mechanism designed to tide over any dangerous situations, which is, in fact, beneficial, a real-life saviour. Chronic stress, an outcome of modern,...

for it is in the giving that we receive

behavioural science / Social Science

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Give, and you will receive

 Give, and you will receive, says the golden rule of reciprocity. The most impressive aspect of the Rule of reciprocity is the sense of obligation that goes along with it. Rule of reciprocity  If someone does us a favour, we should do them one in return, and people are aware of the honoured network of obligation since the dawn of humanity, that has served us so well, both individually and societally. Simply put, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours!, Or as some social scientists suggest, it is akin to Newton’s third law of motion, that is applied to social...

The roles friends play in your life

behavioural science / Interesting Facts

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Are friendships limited? An insight into Dunbar’s number

Who is a friend? Why do we have them, do we need them? Why, the concept of Dunbar’s number, limits the number of meaningful relationships to 150. Roles people play Friends and peers play an essential role in the overall development, including the emotional wellbeing of individuals. As a child  Children acquire social skills and imbibe the prevailing culture from friends and peers. They discover the basics of sharing, cultural values, linguistic nuances, understanding others’ pain, how to sympathise as well as develop compassion and empathy by observing others. Play while you play  Play, a social interaction that is universal...

ten thousand hours rule for mastery

behavioural science / Interesting Facts

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The quest towards mastery, do you believe in 10,000 hours rule

Achieving mastery in any domain is a journey through time, the time you are willing to put in work for years on end. As the poet reflected As the poet Robert Frost echoed in his poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, much before the scientists came up with their hypothesis , that the journey towards accomplishment is protracted. But I have promises to keep  And miles to go before I sleep 10,000 hours rule  How to become an expert or achieve mastery in any domain? The short answer is, if you are prepared to spend 10,000 hours practising...

Learning, a journey into the unknown

behavioural science / Interesting Facts / Social Science

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Acquiring knowledge – a journey into the unknown

Acquiring knowledge is a never-ending mission and a journey into the unknown. Mentioning the word unknown in the recent time brings us to a news briefing that made the known and unknown well-known. A glimpse into Rumsfeld’s news briefing  The world listened with a mixed feeling of wonderment and ridicule to the statement from the then US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, at the department news briefing back in 2012. The major appeal of his speech was the tongue-twisting phrases of expressions which later gained popularity as prudent messages. A bit of background The explanation, by the then Secretary of...

Comparing our second nature

behavioural economics / behavioural science / Social Science

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Comparing-our second nature

Humans are wired in this way, wired to compare. We are always looking at the things around us in relative terms. We can’t help that. We always compare jobs with jobs, education with education, beauty with beauty, vacation with vacation, relation with relation, life with life. Incessant comparison  That’s the point, everything in life, happiness, misery, accomplishment, education, beauty, intelligence everything is comparative. Paradoxically, the society we live in teaches us to think on relative terms, to compare the miseries, so we feel less miserable and to relate the accomplishment, so we feel more accomplished. The question remains, what standards...

behavioural science / cognitive dissonance / fables and sayings

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Cognitive dissonance in sour grapes

People generally use the saying “Sour grapes “ as a disdain expression to point out disapprovingly of those opportunities that slipped through their fingers or to mention the unfulfilled goals and dreams. While their mind may be reeling under unpleasantness and envy, outwardly people balance their behaviour in a manner that reduces their inner turmoil. A peek into the Aesop’s fable. Not intending to narrate the whole story of Fox and grapes here, but in a nutshell, once the fox realised that the mouth-watering “sweet” grapes were not quite attainable, he gives up his efforts, muttering “sour grapes “ and...