What is Brain Food?

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Welcome to Brain Food! This is your one stop shop for all things Psychology, human behavior, and things that I can't let go of or that I find particularly interesting.

Now before you click away because you're thinking "Who is this guy? Why should I care what he finds interesting? I'm going back to taking BuzzFeed quizzes," Let me give you a little background about myself. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, with a double minor in Communications and Gender Studies, and currently work as a Rehabilitation Counselor for people who have severe mental illnesses. I was on the debate team for 2 years in high school and 4 years in college where we saw much national success (as a team, I was okay). I've played the guitar since I was 12 years old but still don't find myself as good as I feel like I should be. I'm very obsessed with superheroes and all things comic books and their derivative movies/TV shows. I've also recently discovered that I have an affinity for cats now as well as dogs.

Why should you care about any of the above paragraph? Well you really shouldn't. I wasted a few seconds of your life reading it so that you can get a feel for where I'm coming from. Plus if I were to jump right in and start talking about the inability to delay gratification you'd likely find yourself wondering, "Who is this guy?"

I'm John, nice to meet you.

So what is this blog supposed to be about anyway? Well like it says at the top this is a blog about the things that I find interesting! I've discovered that when I find something interesting I delve into that subject a good (unhealthy) amount and then feel the need to share those ideas with someone. This is a way for me to share those thoughts with everyone!

You should know that the reason I majored in Psychology was because I find the brain and human interaction the most interesting thing in the world. We're put on this earth and forced into a setting where there are other humans like us that feel the same kinds of thoughts and emotions we do. Everyone desires to be loved, respected, admired, validated, to feel important, etc. We do what we do because we like to, it makes us feel good.

Yet even though we're all fundamentally made of the same stuff and have the same drives and motivations at the core, every single one of us is a completely different and complex individual whose experiences are 100% unique. Out of 7 billion people on this planet every single person has an entirely different experience and perspective. Every. Single. Person. That's so many people! It's literally an inconceivable amount of people. Our brains cannot fathom how many different unique experiences there are in the world, because we're not wired to be able to conceive of those things.

A study conducted by Agrillo, et al. in 2012 finds that our brains can conceive of really big numbers only in relation to other numbers and not individually. For example we know that 7 billion people is significantly more than 50 people, and then 100 people. But past that we really just see it as a very big number instead of 7,000,000,000 different people with completely different life experiences. We are unable to picture 7 billion different people growing up, having their first crush, experiencing pain, love, or happiness all at once. We can only do that really one at a time because that's what we know - that is, we only know what we have experienced, so we relate others' experiences to that in order to try and understand it even though we will never be able to. This is why there is war. This is why there is conflict in our world.

See what I mean? I get into stuff... but that's just a taste! Here's a few subjects that I have interest in writing more posts about:

  • How the internet affects the human brain/relationships
  • Instant gratification/the inability to delay gratification
  • Where evil comes from
  • The rise and sustenance of the ego
  • Gender/social norms/identity
  • Modern communication
  • The cynicism inherent in modern politics
  • Smart phones in relation to our identities
  • Attention deficits/the inability to focus
  • What medication does to the brain
  • Humans as social creatures
  • Why we're here/the meaning of life/what the meaning of life should be
  • Contemporary relationships
  • What music does to our brains
  • Detachment and why we're so good at it
  • Systems in nature mirroring systems in our lives
  • Planning for the future and how we never actually can
  • Self worth and meaning
  • Behavioral economics
  • Obsession with the past and nostalgia
  • Why people suck/why we suck
  • Why people are amazing/why we're amazing
  • Anything else I think of in the mean time

If any of these things sound interesting to you, stay tuned! My plan is to post weekly if people are willing to read it. Also if any of these sound particularly interesting to you, let me know what you'd like me to share my thoughts on next! Leave a comment (or just message me since chances are that if you're reading this we probably know each other) letting me know if you have any suggestions or feedback.

Thanks for sticking with me until the end of this post! I hope that this is the start of something really fun, cool, and interesting!