9 fascinating facts about Brain — The story of you(Part2)
This article is part2 of 9 fascinating facts about Brain — The story of you. If you have come directly to this article check out Part1.
The fascinating facts are from the Book The Brain — The Story of you. Indeed, a great read
Make sure your loved one is holding a hot beverage when you are proposing:-)
Priming is an effect in which one thing influences the perception of something else. If you are holding a warm drink, you’ll describe your relationship with a family member as more affectionate, when you are holding a cold drink, you’ll express a slight poor opinion of the relationship. You may make harsher moral decisions when you are in a foul-smelling environment. When you sit in a hard chair, you will be a tough negotiator in a business transaction. In a soft chair, you will pay more :-).Our brains continuously pull information from the environment and use it to steer our behaviour
What if consciousness didn’t kick in and you are lost in autopilot of mind for too long?
In 1987, 23-year-old Ken Parks fell asleep while watching TV. At that time he is going through financial problems and wanted to discuss his problem with his in-laws. At some point during the night, he travelled to his in-law's house and killed both of his in-laws. He then drove to the nearest police station and he said “I think I just killed someone”. He had no memory of what happened. It seemed somehow his conscious mind was absent during this horrific episode. Ken’s lawyer engaged a group of experts to understand the mystery and they found out that Ken is a sleepwalker and his sleep disorders caused this episode. He is found not guilty and released later. So terrifyingly we are just at the mercy of a system that is pulling our strings and deciding what we do next.
In case you have a court trial, make sure it is post lunch:-)
Valuations change as circumstances change. A study in 2011 analysed a thousand rulings from judges. Just after the lunch break, a prisoner’s chance of parole increases to its highest of 65%. A prisoner’s chance of getting parole is only 20% before the lunch break. It is funny, hunger makes the biggest difference. Next time when you are meeting someone make sure you meet them right after lunch to get a positive outcome. These are the invisible mechanisms of decision making.
Our brain makes judgement constantly. But do we learn this from life experience or are we born with it?
Researchers from Yale university invited one-year-old babies along with their mothers to watch a puppet show. The puppet show is about a duck struggling to open a box with toys in it. Two bears wearing two different colour shirts watch the duck. After a few moments, one of the bears holds the lid and helps the duck to pull some toys. They hug each other and lid closes. After another few moments, another bear puts weight on the lid and hinders the duck to pull more toys. In short, one bear is kind and another bear is mean. After the show, researchers carry over the bears to babies and remarkably these babies who are short in life experience, and can’t walk and talk choose the bear which is kind. Simple experiments like this demonstrate the brain comes with inborn instincts to detect who’s trustworthy and who isn’t.
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