Chapter 31 little shaking

A TV show is testing my patience.I sat in front of the TV alone, imagining that there was someone watching the show with me, and we made a bet: would he move?After a while, the female reporter wanted to interview an inexperienced young politician and asked him what plans he had.Politicians, like TV viewers, understand that there is little opportunity to make their point later.Journalists have all been trained in the new "torture culture" of the media. They know how to hold the right to speak in their own hands, so that the other party has no time to say two complete sentences, and ask questions as soon as new information comes out. The reporter will not overturn the information he has just disclosed.So the inexperienced politician was in a tense atmosphere.He intends to talk about the election and talk about what he can do for the voters.However, he is very clear that to win the opportunity to speak, he must go through a fierce battle. As for the content of the speech, that is secondary.

"Typical tension," I said, "if he moves when the reporter asks the first question, you invite me to Paris for the weekend." My imaginary neighbor stared at me as if to say "Ear Hearing is believing, seeing is believing."Before that, I told him that after the politician listened to the first question and before he began to answer, he would slightly shake the chair from the left to the right, and move his position a little, about one centimeter.This process is fleeting, and only a trained person can realize the changes.For this reason, I told the virtual partner about the situation to be staged in advance and gave a detailed description.When the reporter asks the second question, a similar situation will not happen again. "If that's the case," said my neighbor, "wouldn't everyone see it?" I whispered in his ear that many everyday behaviors can only be seen by trained people.I didn't take my eyes off the TV as I said this, and continued, "It's hard to observe human behavior. Teachers try to teach their students, but some people just can't."

Why should I take this bet?And why was it so certain that the person being interviewed would sway slightly, inadvertently, in his chair?Because this situation is a typical example of jumping behavior.Jumping behavior is a well-known phenomenon in behavioral biology that occurs in many animals.This is a conflicting behavior that resolves two conflicting motives.For example, when a bird encounters an opponent, it wants to both fly away and attack the opponent.These two conflicting motives may make the bird both fearful and angry, and since flight and attack cannot occur simultaneously, an unresolvable conflict arises, leading to a troublesome problem.And the solution to the problem is that the poor guy does a completely unrelated thing, like getting into a sleeping position.Of course, it wasn't really going to sleep, but it acted as if it jumped into a system that had absolutely nothing to do with this conflict, hence the name "jumping behavior".Just like that, the conflict is resolved and the tension is gone.People who make observation a daily job can often see how jumping resolves similar conflicts.

Take your dog as an example.When you go to the supermarket to buy something, the dog is locked in the house, so conflicts arise-he wants to go out with you, in his eyes, this is a good opportunity to run out and have fun, but because the door is closed, he can't go out. go.As a result, the dog is disappointed and solves the problem by jumping.It decides to hit your pillow hard, so the pillow gets "professional grade" damage.You gave it a hard time when you got home, but you know what, it has no choice.It's you who caused it to be contradictory, making it have to take the leap.

Similar behavior is seen in humans from time to time, and I see it as a kind of sport.When people get caught up in a tense social situation, even if it is mild, they will do irrelevant things, such as scratching themselves.Scratching yourself is probably the most common phenomenon in human jumping behavior.Just imagine, someone encounters a difficult question, and the conflict that arises at this time must be answered and avoided as much as possible.Such conflicts prompted him to scratch his hair, touch the sleeves of his clothes uneasily, rub his face back and forth, and push his glasses twice. Everyone has their own jumping behavior.For years, I've seen on TV people with little experience being interviewed, making a small jump at the first question, shifting slightly in their chair before giving an answer position or shake it.Someone who has been interviewed regularly and knows how to counter the reporter's vehement attitude will not exhibit this behavior, only newcomers will.

Having said that, I have already guessed the question you want to ask: what good is this behavior?So far, it's just a little bit of nervousness, or fear, or shyness, and people behave normally without all that touching, grabbing, shaking, don't they?That's right, those actions do not have any direct benefits, or in other words, they no longer exist.It is, however, a legacy from humanity's distant past.Our ancestors, like other species, used jumping not only to defuse tension, but also as a signal between members of the same group.Jumping behavior suggests that a tense atmosphere has arisen and can be used to alert members of other groups.The bird just now used its sleeping posture to clearly show to the other party that I will not attack you, because I am trapped in a contradictory situation.And the other party will not take risks, quarrel with it or something.Then again, jumping doesn't signal anything like that anymore, although the reporter would still "torture" the politician with interest.Jumping behavior is ingrained in our behavioral patterns and will be passed down from one generation to the next.

It's not an important behavior, and even a thorough understanding of it wouldn't be of any concrete benefit.Only a few enthusiastic behavioral biologists are interested.In daily life, we don't have to pay attention to this kind of behavior, because it is really impossible to restrain it.It always happens inadvertently, and it is impossible to control it.But for anyone interested in observing human behavior from an evolutionary perspective, this is a fossil left over from our distant past.Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to observe similar behaviors exhibited by people?And he's a politician too!

The female reporter on TV asked the first question sharply.The inexperienced politician stared nervously at the executioner's thick red lips, concentrating on describing the political future of his party and the country in just a few words.He cleared his throat, swayed slightly from left to right for half a second, and then spoke. "I won!" I yelled to my neighbor.He looked depressed, and now he is going to invite me to Paris.Unfortunately, this is just my imagination.I looked at the empty sofa beside me and realized that I was talking to myself, so I stretched out my hand and scratched my ear.