The mind is a fascinating organ and probably the most complex one to understand too. For centuries, many have tried and failed to fathom its workings with thousands of conflicting results obtained.
It’s true that the way our mind works raises more questions than it answers; such as why we do certain things or act a certain way, without consciously being aware of it for example.
While we’re in no position to have the final say on the intricate workings of the human mind, we can bust some of the most common myths that people believe to be true when it comes to human psychology.
1) Multitasking is Impossible
A lot of people claim to be “great multitaskers”… just take a look at any modern CV. However, the reality is that multitasking as we’ve come to understand it ie. doing two things simultaneously is actually not possible. When we think we’re multitasking, what we’re really doing is switching back and forth between one task and another, scientifically known as context-switching.
There’s even a fully-fledged scientific explanation for it. According to a study conducted in Paris a few years ago, when our brain is given a second task to concentrate on, the right and left hemisphere work separately. Hence, instead of using the brain’s full capacity on one task, we actually cause it to split its resources and switch between tasks. Instead of making us more productive, this actually increases the margin for error by a whopping 50% and takes twice the time to complete both tasks.
So rather than being efficient, multi-tasking in fact is quite counter-productive! Some food for thought for the next time you plan on overloading your brain with more than one task at a time.
2) Our brain is hard-wired to “rewrite monotonous speech”
Yes, you read that right… our brain actually has a filter for boring people. According to a study by scientists from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, as soon as we hear anything that qualifies as “monotonously-spoken words”, it’s instantly compelled to rewrite this speech in order to make it more interesting to understand. The scientists argued that this was the brain’s way of stopping us from drifting away and getting lost in our thoughts.
According to Dr. Bo Yao, the lead author of the research, the brain is “very picky” about the kind of speech it hears and may choose to “talk over” boring utterances to increase understanding and response rates. So, it’s official, your brain has its very own voice-over…I just hope mine sounds like Shonda Rhimes.
3) We can become addicted to literally anything
The nature of addiction has long been studied and analysed. While it’s true that addiction may be caused by the nature of the thing itself, whether alcohol, drugs or gambling, people can actually become addicted to just about anything, even those things which may not seem like bad things on the surface.
For example, there are loads of people out there to have kicked drug or alcohol addiction by turning to other outlets, such as fitness or work. While being an extreme fitness buff or a hard worker may not seem like negative things, they can still cause us harm if taken to the extreme.
In an article called the Psychology of Gambling, Casinos.co explain how In an experiment conducted on lab mice in the 50s, it was found that the mice would repeatedly press a switch in order to experience a “feel-good” sensation and choose this over basic needs like food or water. Like mice, we humans also tend to act in a similar way when it comes to things or activities that give us a good feeling, be it alcohol, food, working out, or playing video games. The key of course is self-control and it’s the lack of it that causes addiction. The rest is pure indulgence. Some people naturally have addictive personalities which makes them more prone to exhibiting indulgence.
4) The Less Choice we Have, the Better for Our Brain
According to study from 1995, aptly named the “the Art of Choosing”, our brain actually prefers having fewer choices as opposed to a wide selection of options. The results were taken by measuring the responses of people as they approached 2 stands selling jam – one with just 6 options and the other with a total of 24 different kinds of jam. A higher percentage of people actually bought a jar of jam from the stand with fewer options. Hence the experiment questioned whether having more choice actually made people more indecisive rather than giving more freedom.
5) Habits take just 66 days to Form
Contrary to popular belief, human beings are not born with habits, nor do they take years to form. In fact, all it takes is a measly 66 days for us to form a habit. In Charles Duhigg’s paper “The Power of Habit”, he explains how any habit begins with a so-called “habit loop” which consists of 3 steps.
The first starts with the trigger that instructs our brain to perform a certain act or behave in a certain way. Next comes the behaviour itself which when performed repeatedly, becomes routine. Finally, there’s the ‘reward’ step which causes a pleasurable outcome and helps our brain remember the habit loop.
The reason why breaking habits is so difficult is since they become so ingrained in our psyche, we do them almost without thinking. But don’t get discouraged if you’re trying to stop biting your nails or picking your nose. Breaking habits can be done, but it takes time… probably a lot longer than 66 days in fact!
