The Nebulous Kingdom

Mind-Body Interaction - Pulling Our Own Strings

6/28/2010

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http://futurity.org/health-medicine/mind-body-connection-is-a-touchy-subject/

"In a series of six experiments documented in the June 25 issue of the journal Science, psychologists demonstrate how dramatically the sense of touch affects how the world is viewed.

Interviewers holding a heavy clipboard, compared to a light one, thought job applicants took their work more seriously.

Subjects who read a passage about an interaction between two people were more likely to characterize it as adversarial if they had first handled rough jigsaw puzzle pieces, compared to smooth ones.

And people sitting in hard, cushionless chairs were less willing to compromise in price negotiations than people who sat in soft, comfortable chairs."


We are such intensely physical beings.  Given how hard it is to separate mind and body, it begs the question as to what is "me the person with free will" versus "me the animal governed by instinct."

It seems impossible to try to behave consciously at every and all moments.  It seems the best we can do is take advantage of the conscious moments we have and shape ourselves (and the instincts we revert to in all the other unconscious moments).  Establishing good habits, making irreversible commitments, creating a "personal infrastructure," shaping identity, etc.  If someone has to pull my puppet strings, I'd rather it be me.
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    I'm interested in uncertainty, time, trust, consistency, strategy, economics, empathy, philosophy, education, technology, story-telling, and fractals.
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