We won't decide for you if behavior is determined, or if we have free will. But, it appears all humans and animals make choices. We should be aware of “adaptive evolutionary considerations” and “personal reinforcements."
Humans are risk averse and we don't always maximize the gains available to us. We bend to psychological variables. For example, there may be better coffee, but we are very likely to continue drinking Folgers, because we "know," the best part of waking up is Folgers in our cup!
We determine value by its utility; such as esthetics, cost, and availability. We'll easily cross over to Hills if there is no Folgers on the shelf, or if the Hills is on sale!
We don't like to expend energy, so the gain we receive has to balance with the energy loss. For example, we balance our natural laziness with our needs of stimulation. We usually end up getting the first cup fairly quickly, but we’ll drink a pretty cold cup of coffee before getting up the next time.
Reinforcement value is easy. We always end up feeling better “after” we get the coffee!
Oh and most often we favor consistency. It is easier on our brain to repeat ourselves each morning. We always reach both coffee filters and coffee while on "that" side of the kitchen.
We take more risks if the perceived expectations can replace uncertainty. I might go for any unknown brand of coffee, if a good looking guy were to serve me in bed!
We will also adapt our behavior in favor of a large reward. Energy well expended is more advantageous than energy wasted.” If that guy were getting in bed with me to cuddle or massage, I might choose not to even drink the coffee!
Our sources predict we will choose behaviors that take less energy and have consistent rewards, rather than larger and more variable rewards. Eh, better to depend on getting our own coffee, than over reach in hope of a guy having “simple” affections!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment