"Eating melons" will become addictive, gossip should be restrained
Some scientific studies have found that reading gossip information can activate the reward system in the human brain, which likely means that the human brain recognizes the gossip as a reward, which in turn produces a sense of pleasure.
From the perspective of behaviorist psychology, this sense of pleasure is a positive reinforcer, and when it occurs immediately after a behavior, it will reinforce the behavior and make it addictive.
Since the beginning of 2021, there have been several "earthquakes" in the entertainment industry, and Weibo has also set off a whirlwind of "eating melons". All kinds of heavy gossip news have occupied social networks again and again, dazzling the masses of "melon-eating" people, and some netizens even jokingly called 2021 "the year of melons".
So, why are people so keen to "eat melons"? Today we will take a closer look at it from a psychological point of view.
Behind the hidden pursuit of superiority
The best-selling book "A Brief History of Humanity" has this passage:
"If a large group of people wants to work together, the 'bad talk' thing is very important."
From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, in ancient times, our ancestors were in a food shortage and crisis environment for a long time. Not only did they know how to avoid lions and tigers, how to fish and hunt deer, it was not enough, but more importantly, You also need to know who is in conflict with whom in the tribe, and who is on good terms with whom...
In the opinion of the author of the book, these gossip messages help tribal members to connect feelings and promote cooperation among them to a certain extent, which is also an important reason for the continuation of the human race to this day.
In addition, psychologist Robin Dunbar believes that behind people's eagerness to talk about gossip, there is a hidden pursuit of superiority.
Celebrities are the darlings under the spotlight. The beauty, wealth, and fame they have are all desired by ordinary people, which can easily induce worship. And this kind of worship also implies a kind of inferiority complex of "you have and I don't", so when a little negative news of a celebrity is exposed, the suppressed inferiority of ordinary people may be replaced by a sense of superiority.
People who once looked up are now being "trodden" under their feet, and the "melon-eating" masses briefly stand on the moral high ground.
A "cocoon room" trapped in gossip
When ordinary people gossip, they say gossip on the surface, but they actually talk about feelings. In daily life, we often see that a few minutes ago, a group of people who were "silent with each other" at the wine table may have inadvertently said some gossip, and suddenly became late to meet each other. How many buddies, girlfriends, and relatives have endless topics to talk about because of gossip.
Since gossip has such benefits, it also means that it can be addictive.
Some scientific studies have found that reading gossip information can activate the reward system in the human brain, which likely means that the human brain recognizes the gossip as a reward, which in turn produces a sense of pleasure.
From the perspective of behaviorist psychology, this sense of pleasure is a positive reinforcer, and when it occurs immediately after a behavior, it will reinforce the behavior and make it addictive.
Nowadays, all kinds of media continue to produce gossip information, and the information supply of some apps is also "according to their own preferences". If you click on a few gossip news, it will continue to be pushed for you. In this way, the content people receive will become more single and homogeneous, and the audience will be trapped in the "information cocoon room" unknowingly.
Originally, people talked about gossip in the hope of obtaining more information and expanding their social contacts, but in this situation, it may put the cart before the horse, trapping people in the "pupa" of gossip, and instead narrowing the dimension of information reception.
Rational "eat melon" must not be fully committed
However, existence is reasonable. As mentioned earlier, talking about gossip is a habit of human beings since ancient times, and it is obviously impractical to completely reject it. So, how can we avoid the negative effects of "eating melons"?
The author believes that the first step in controlling "eating melon" is to face up to one's own needs for "melon". What we need to do is not to completely suppress this demand, but to satisfy it moderately. For all kinds of entertainment news, let's take a look and don't devote ourselves to it.
Second, to get out of the misunderstanding of thinking. Many people pay attention to gossip news for the purpose of enriching the conversation, but in the end they are trapped in the "pupa" of gossip. Such people often have a misunderstanding in their thinking. But that's not the case because our time is limited. Knowing a little bit of gossip is likely to make you better integrated into your social circle, but from a resource allocation perspective, the more time you spend browsing gossip information, the less time you spend chatting with friends. Therefore, there is an "inverted U-shaped curve" relationship between the amount of gossip information obtained and the social quality, rather than a nonlinear relationship.
Finally, don't forget that the sense of superiority brought about by negative gossip is just a castle in the air. Even if a star falls from the altar, that doesn't mean you become a rich, beautiful, popular person. The sense of superiority at that moment was just an illusion generated by the brain, as illusory as a bubble.
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