Alright, digression to my undergrad years as a psych major... There’s a pretty well-known phenomenon in psychology about our ability to consciously express preferences. That is, people are capable of coming up with an explanation about why they like something, but that very act alters their preference. For instance, if you ask someone to pick their favorite book, they really love Harry Potter. But if you ask them to pick their favorite book and tell you WHY, they will probably realize that Harry doesn’t make them sound sophisticated or cool (unless, like me, you think Harry Potter transcends such paltry things as coolness), so they say that their favorite book is actually Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Then they can give a nice, clean explanation about why they love it. But they’re deluding themselves AND you, because admit it, they really, really love Hogwarts, and they’d be way happier reading Harry Potter over and over if stuck on a desert island. So, pretty much, if you want to get in touch with who you really are, you can’t think through your opinions too much, because then the rationalizing of just why you get all googly-eyed at Daniel Radcliffe ruins it.
Interesting.
Now, for me, I’ll admit I’m a naval-gazer. Hence, the blog. Unfortunately, the above phenomenon guarantees somewhat that all my carefully thought-out opinions about what I think about the world, including thoughts on medicine, social justice, hobbies, relationships, and the like, are probably an attempt to make me into a person that sounds good to myself. And that means that I could (and not even be consciously aware that I was) actually be someone who would prefer to watch Jersey Shore reruns and eat marshmallow peeps all day. Scary, no? So maybe I should go with my gut more, and stop thinking about all this life stuff, and I’d be way, way happier. Hmmmm. Well, if you need me, I’ll be in my room listening to the Postal Service and reading the Chamber of Secrets.
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