Gently Down The Stream

Navigating the Literary Labyrinth

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...

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...

what is up to us what is not up to us

Social Science

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What you do, if it’s not up to you

“ta eph’hemin, ta ouk eph’hemin.” The phrase mentioned above is an age-old Greek stoic phrase that translates to, “What is up to us, what is not up to us”. Inherently unpredictable arena  There are things that you may influence, and then there are things that are beyond one’s control. It’s highly unlikely that you will ever control the unpredictable nature of life. Take a look at our past histories, can’t you see how awful, vicious and unpredictable the world can be.  Can humans ever achieve dominance  During the past few decades, humans have witnessed unprecedented growth in the biotech and...

Roseto Effect

Interesting Facts / Social Science

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Roseto effect, Is social connections best for a healthy heart

Modern life favours egocentric individualist society, where one makes decisions considering their preferences, needs and rights. A collectivist society, on the other hand, perpetuates a set of values in which the well-being of the community as a whole is given priority over individual preferences. Roseto effect is an observation based on such collectivist experience. Roseto during the ’50s Roseto is a town in Eastern Pennsylvania, a settlement area of the immigrants from Southern Italy. Rosetans created a collectivist community by transplanting the peasant culture of Italy to Pennsylvania. An epidemic of heart disease  During 1940-1950, America was witnessing a growing...