Lecture 21 Compellingness Flashcards
Compelling Experiences
They draw and hold our attention
makes us fell they are important and stick with us making us think about them
Examples of compelling experiences
Arts and compelling natural configurations Theories Sports and games Quotes Jokes News
The Compellingness Theory
- Were interested in our social status and place in it
2.
Were interested in our social status and place in it
We are wired to think socially because we are a social species, very important to live in a society. anything to do with people is compelling like good stories
Group size correspond to brain size
Americas most wanted painting
painting was made as an art project, in which they depicted the most wanted and the least wanted painting.
Narrative
All stores have characters and conflict, we think in terms of desires and goals
Gossip
Serves some funtion in society such as social bonding, secrets (you got inside information), what makes gossip juicy. People care more if people with high status lose status
News
they are competing for your attention and make their stories compelling
Conspiracy theories
They are attractive because its about “secret information” about people. (feels like a good story)
Sports
People are in conflict
People tend to favor their ingroup as opposed to the other group.
Alien Abductions
Reports of alien abductions has dropped dramatically, because everyone can take pictures they are less likely to make it up.
Alien Intelligence
The more features an Alien has with a smart human the higher people tend to think that that alien is intelligent
Bad science
astrology and crystal healing has more to do with people than actual science.
Gods
We think of Gods as human, like describing him in human ways.
Fear
Negativity bias attend to believe negative information
We believe more dangerous generalizations
Hope
We are happy when we believe something is beneficial, wishful thinking
Plastic Arts
Art made with things
evolution made us like views from high up
Accidents
We are compelled to watch accidents and failures so we don’t repeat them.
Attractive People
They make us feel good because they would make good offspring,
Fear and Hope; Stories
Urban legends, Bad Science, Religion, Conspiracy Theories are all supposed to scare you and then sell you a solution to that fear, which humans are compelled to be interested in. (they play on your hopes and fears)
Patterns and Repetition
We are intrinsically rewarded for finding patters and regularities.
Patterns; Plastic arts
We do not find complexity or plainness interesting, but enjoy structure
Fractals
We find fractals attractive because nature has fractals,
Narrative
Reincorporation of symbols
Titles of books have gotten shorter
Makes them easy to understand and remember
Quotations
We like rhymes, and we remember things that rhyme
Repetition
Availability Cascade, reoccurring information
Music hearing songs again and again makes us like them more.
Resolving puzzles and Contradictions
We are atrocious, not precocious, we are here to learn, thin cortex predicts intelligence, seeing things that don’t seem right triggers the dopamine system and spikes our interest.
The sweet spot
Too many pattern bores us so does too much incongruity so there needs to be a balance.
Incongruity in Sports
We are much more interested in unpredictable and close games
Conclusion in Compellingness
We can realize what compels us and understand how it is compelling us.
