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Why We Like What We Like
Aesthetic appreciation is learned
Two factors that influence our taste are social consensus and familiarity. We need time and help to appreciate a work of art.
Art appreciation develops in the same way as other tastes. One person will comment on liking something, and a consensus builds that it is worth liking. Aesthetic appreciation is then supposed to be learned and shared.
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Key Ideas
The power of caffeine
Scientists determined that a person who is more sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine drinks more coffee.
The stimulating effects of caffeine on the brain act as a kind of positive rein...
Genes and coffee
More research is needed to validate whether there is a causal link between genes and specific taste perceptions.
Scientists are planning to delve further into the relationship between taste perception and health - to evaluate if bitter taste genes have implications on disease risks.
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Key Ideas
Information storms
We often feel overwhelmed when we are exposed to a large volume of information. We also rely on secondary knowledge that does not come from any external source.
To put it another way: rightly...
How misinformation builds
- When we encounter unfamiliar information on a social network, we verify it in one of two ways. We either go through the burdensome process of countless claims and counter-claims to understand if it is true, or we rely on others by way of social proof.
- If we search for online information, instead of coming up with our own way of assessing the quality or the usefulness of every website, we rely on Google's PageRank algorithm to come up with the best sites. In essence, we rely on other people to source information by use of user traffic, reviews, ratings, clicks and likes.
How to handle an infostorm
Infostorms are like actual storms: they are a product of climatic conditions. Different climates can produce different results.
The more we understand the chain of events that led to a particular view, the better we are equipped to appreciate it if we are skeptical or take into account other perspectives.
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Key Ideas
Feeling united
Patriotism is an inborn human sentiment and part of a subconscious drive toward group bonding and allegiance. According to some recent studies, patriotism is in our genes.
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Patriotism and identity
The groups we identify with provide a sense of identity and belonging. Once we have identified our place in the group, we are motivated to enhance the status of this group. Patriotism is a form of identity.
Scientists explain that the instincts that drive patriotism can express humanity’s best and worst sides.
In an experiment, subjects consistently discriminated against those in other groups and acted in ways that benefited their own groups.
Group emotions
The feeling that the benefits of the group are beneficial to the individual is innate.
One common characteristic of a group is that emotions appear to be contagious. A shared emotional experience occurs when one person feels a similar emotion to another due to perceiving the other's state. Conversely, xenophobia can be attributed to a dissimilarity in perception that creates an empathy gap.