8 Mar 2011

BIG THINK MAKES GREAT READING

Bigthink is a most remarkable journal/site (we never know what to call them these days). The articles are about various subbjects going from neurosciences to economy or psychology. The contributors are very very good. Do yourself a favour and subscribe to it.
You'll find it at:

http://bigthink.com/ideas/26676

The link above goes directly to an article about the common assumption that when we've known or been with someone for long we can guess each other's thoughts. It seems it's not quite like that.
Quoting, "Researchers tracked how people in couples read between the lines when listening to their partners, and compared that to how well they understood total strangers. Results: No difference.(...)
To communicate with a stranger, they [the authors] argue, we have to imagine the mind of the other person, and understand how things look in another's eyes. But with people close to us, we "let down our guard": We hope, or expect, or assume (or maybe feel entitled to believe, after all we've done over the years) that the other sees things exactly as we do."
Does it ring a bell?


It's a testimony to our profound similarity, and the power of language, that any one of us can, with a little effort, make herself understood to any other of us on planet Earth. We just have to accept that that kind of mind-reading is a human universal, so love has nothing to do with it.

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