All I have to say after these readings are wow.
For Mystery & Meaning, I was consumed by all of the interesting theories, effects and explanations of how people understand the world around them. I remember Bezio saying in one of our previous classes that humans have a need for finding, and in some cases, creating patterns and now it makes more sense. As I read this, I began to make of ton of connections to the way our world functions today. For example, the power of a title changing how you’re perceived/treated by others, employers enacting the primacy effect in an interview after already having read a resume, and the rumor of UR not being open this Fall out of fear. The section that stood out to me the most was “The Need for Closure”. I have always been the type of person that needs to finish something once it has started. For example, I cannot, cannot stop writing an essay once I start it. I have always been this way in most aspects of my life, so reading about the Zeigarnik effect was eerie because it offered an explanation of what unfinished tasks feel like to me. Another section that caught my attention discussed how negative feelings/associations tend to be stronger than positive ones. I have a phobia of Ferris wheels (don’t laugh) and I could never really explain why. It’s not the height aspect, because I enjoy riding roller coasters. After reading about how phobias involve “any potential negative experience under uncertainty”, I realized that it’s because Ferris wheels are free-hanging and don’t have seatbelts. All of the item’s weight is suspended by one point attached to a rotating wheel. Now I finally have an explanation for my avoidance of Ferris wheels. 🙂
On another note, I cannot believe I have never heard of the Stanford Prison Experiment before! Although overall it was a completely astounding experiment in various ways, I was most shocked when the research psychologist himself began to firmly view this as his reality (after rumors of a mass escape). The fact that the main person who is supposed to remain grounded and “above” the experiment became such an active participant in his own way speaks to the power of the situation. I began talking with my mom about the experiment (she had never heard of it before either) and after listening for a few minutes she said, “Well, it makes sense. Do you remember what happened every year we did the haunted house?” At the end of October our church youth group would put on a haunted house that we worked on for months in advance. It was our largest fundraiser of the year and people from all over the city would come to walk-through. Everyone in the parish participated in some way and would contain mad scientists, clowns, dolls, zombies, traditional Hollywood Figures, and local urban legend characters (i.e. la llorona). My mom drew attention to how everyone was rocky in their parts at first, but with the right environment (darkness, strobe lights, sounds, fog, etc.), we would quickly become our character. By the third night, the experience became training and we would have to have constant check-ins with each other to make sure we were okay. The screams we made were so realistic that peers and visitors believed it. Each of us began to laugh more like the clown’s, make creepy face’s like the doll’s and say certain phrases the jump scarers would say. It wasn’t a fully immersive environment (24/7), but spending 6 hours every night acting in this role took haunting to an entirely different level.