Human minds are very complicated. It is so sophisticated and ambiguous that mankind shall never be able to fully understand its mechanisms. This is the cool thing about our mind: it is capable of doing anything.
Here are some bizarre, amazing, and funny things our mind can do to us and people around us:
The Romeo and Juliet Effect
The tragic, tear-causing love story of Romeo and Juliet can also occur in real life! The Romeo and Juliet effect causes romantic relationships to intensify when any sort of difficulty arises, such as disapproving parents, just like in Romeo and Juliet. In 1972, psychologist Keith Davis and 2 others did a survey on 140 couples to test their theory that love intensifies with a certain frustration. The survey proved the theory correct. So, if there is some frustration between your lover / husband or wife, just let it be. It may act as a stimulus to strengthen your love.
Pygmalion effect and the Golem effect
A Pygmalion effect is a phenomenon where if someone is given high expectations he/she will perform better at the given job. The Golem effect is the vice-versa: low expectations causes low performance.
In 1968, socio-psychologist at Harvard university, Robert Rosenthal, conducted an experiment to test this out. He went to an elementary school in San Francisco and ran an intelligence test on all the students. He then selected several random students, regardless of test results, and told the teacher that ‘the selected kids have high intelligence and hence have higher chance of improving grades’. Eight months later, Rosenthal checked the selected students’ grades and found that, not only had their grades risen, they were also above average.
So, if you want your child, peers or anyone close to you to do a good job, tell them that you have high expectations. But be careful though sometimes too many expectations can be burdensome.
Couvade Syndrome
The word, ‘Couvade’ comes from the French word ‘Couver’, which means ‘to incubate an egg’. Couvade Syndrome occurs when a husband experiences similar pain to his pregnant wife. For instance, a husband might suffer the same appetite loss and nausea that his pregnant wife is experiencing.
Sounds unfamiliar? Well, this occurs a lot more than you think. There are some celebrities in Korea (my home country) who suffered through this.
TATT Syndrome (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
Do you have a person near you who complains that he/she is tired no matter how much they have slept? If so, that person might be suffering TATT Syndrome, short for Tired All The Time Syndrome. The symptoms include : lack of motivation, depression without reason, poor concentration and exhaustion. Quite prevalent among social workers who undergo lots of stress, TATT Syndrome can affect one’s health very badly if ignored.
Unfortunately, there are no straightforward cure for this Syndrome. But one can prevent this by staying out of stress and psychological pressure, which are the main causes of TATT. Stress and pressure can be relieved by light exercise, sticking to daily routine, and frequent stretching.
AIWS
Was Alice truly happy to be in Wonderland? Well, people suffering from AIWS (short for Alice In the Wonderland Syndrome) you might be able to give an answer for it. AIWS is a disorder which distorts one’s sight while his/her body is completely normal. This causes objects randomly changing its shape and size and hallucinations (from the patient’s point of view).
This is actually very serious problem and needs heavy treatment just to be suppressed – it is incurable. But don’t worry! The only way to get this is by having an excessive amount of electricity flow through your brain and hence disturbing blood flow and messing up brain activity, which (hopefully) does not happen very easily.
As previously mentioned, our minds can do a lot of incredible, and sometimes creepy things to us. Use this to your advantage! Keep your mind healthy and positive and your body will stay the same.
