Gently Down The Stream

Merrily navigating life

Category: Social Science

When the choosing get tough

behavioural science / Interesting Facts / Social Science

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When the choosing gets tough, flip a coin

The ability to choose well is arguably the most powerful skill one is empowered with. The desire to choose is innate and rooted deep within us. It’s a commonplace knowledge that even if you have the complete liberty to choose from, the process itself can be tricky at times. The power of free will The power of choice entails one with the ability to unearth the best possible option out of all. In an individualistic society, the right to choose or free will is assumed to be one of the basic needs required for human happiness. Therefore they formulate their...

paying attention to inattentional blindness

behavioural science / psychology / Social Science

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Pay attention to inattentional blindness

Pay attention is one of the aptly composed phrases, which needs to be earnestly explored, more so than ever in this tech-friendly era, where chances of getting distracted by are enormous. The surge and complexity of modern life are overpowering to render individuals blind and deaf to the things that occur around them. Not wide, but a tunnel vision We hold on to the mistaken belief that we pay enough attention to, and therefore should notice and remember the world around us much more than we do. Looking without seeing Have you ever thought of how we perceive, remember and...

of pencils and boxes

fables and sayings / Philosophy / Social Science

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Of Pencils and boxes

If you were to explore your creative skills and offer your ideas and imagination about two themes from our daily life, one a pencil and another a box, I’m convinced that most amongst you can propose exciting and impressive ideas that reveal your unique originality and viewpoints.  Reflection of two great writers Before you discover your ideas, let us read up about the creative intelligence of two celebrated contemporary writers. Paulo Coelho’s short story on the pencil  Nassim Nicholas’s aphorism on boxes. Paulo Coelho The proclaimed author who shot to fame with his bestselling novel , The Alchemist, needs no...

honesty a sinking social trait

behavioural science / Interesting Facts / psychology / Social Science

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Honesty, a sinking social trait

We come across reports of deception and corruption almost every day that it doesn’t affect or surprise us anymore. The news varies from the trivial accounts of towels being stolen from hotel rooms to profound large-scale financial scandals.   How as a society, or as a country, we came to be tainted by this much widespread dishonesty? How we see ourselves  We consider ourselves to be honest, honourable people—rational thinkers with a built-in moral compass and the capacity of understanding of what’s right and wrong. The illusion of one’s morality  Do you think that the dishonesty we witness in our society...

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...

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...

are you a hedgehog or a fox

Interesting Facts / Social Science

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Are you a hedgehog or a fox ?

What would you prefer to be, a hedgehog or a fox? Enter the world of political, economic or any different business arena, where the leadership qualities of the kingpins are metaphorically characterised as, either a hedgehog or a fox. Modern jungle  What are the defining features of hedgehog and fox in the current world? Who is your best bet? Are there any clear winners here? The concept date back to  The Hedgehog and the fox concept  is credited to a parable by the Greek poet, Archilochus, who wrote, a few centuries ago that, A fox knows many things, but a...

Food Habits Hard to Resist

behavioral science / Social Science

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Food habits, hard to resist

Humans don’t seem to be the only species susceptible to the undesirable food habits and lifestyle disorders attributed to it. It looks like we have company here. If given a chance, the nonhuman primates in Savannah cannot say no to the delicious delicacies or to the chair-bound cosy, lazy life. A life that mismatched the evolutionary history  As humans climbed up the evolutionary ladder, leaving the hunter-gatherer life behind and habituated to a sophisticated life, few unsuitable routines were bound to happen. Such as, coping with a fast-paced life, excessive consumption of fatty and sugary foods, round the clock desk-bound...

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...