Absurdity and Authority

I have often said the words “I hate people.”

I’ll admit that I don’t actually hate mankind, but when I frequently hear people say and do dumb things, it has become my knee-jerk response.

When unintelligent utterances come about, I often wonder if someone could really be that clueless and I rationalize it by disliking the masses. Yet maybe there is some sort of social psychology at work behind absurdity.

I challenged this ideal greatly a few days ago, when sitting in the HUB. I was positioned with my laptop, doing work in between my classes, where at the end of the table sat four girls. They were talking rapidly and when the one girl got up to leave, she uttered one of the most ill conceived sentences I have ever heard:

“I think I’m going to take the Blue Loop to the White Building.”

I froze (keep in mind we were at the HUB, which is about a 30 second walk to the White Building.) I sat wide-eyed at what I just heard and waited for her friends to verbally attack the comment. I didn’t have to wait long. Her friends laughed endlessly and pointed out the flaws in her comment. The girl then giggled and shrugged it off. This definitely happened a lot. She pretended that she didn’t realize her own idiocy, and when she left her friends went on to talk about how she says things of this nature often.

All people have inherited intellect and because of this I remain unconvinced of this girl’s actual lack of knowledge. True, we all have slips in common sense, but I dissected her thought process enough to realize she thought far enough ahead to contemplate taking the bus. She obviously thought about her next location. She had to have known. From this, I believe she was acting a part; she was playing a role.

So why do people “dumb themselves down?” To me, playing dumb makes you inferior; it in turn gives the others in conversation the upper hand, as they believe to have more knowledge than you. What’s the benefit?

Studies suggest that woman often act dumber when with their spouse to reflect on society’s ideal that, at least on certain issues, the husband’s superiority should not be tested. With that, studies also show that men tend to dumb themselves down more often than women in social situations. Men tend to “play dumb” in situations with co-workers and bosses.

This tactic can alternatively be done as a defense mechanism. Often people will avoid showing their intelligence in situations of highly structured and competition stature, where mid-level personal are motivated to avoid annoying others in order to improve their future there. It is also suggested that people will dumb themselves down to avoid responsibility.

I question, is it easier to remain the simple-minded one than challenge the minds of others?
If we position ourselves as dimwitted, do we in turn lessen our responsibility?

With this in mind, maybe “being dumb” is a lot less dumb than we think.

Elderly Insight

Never one to be the tallest in the room, when I wait in lines, I have gotten used to being surrounded by taller people. I’ve gotten well acquainted with the reactionary motion of looking up when someone speaks to me. It’s all very typical.

Yet, on one particularly grey afternoon in the HUB, I found myself waiting in line with, quite possibly, some of Penn State’s tallest students. I stood, in the midst of tall boys who obviously worked out a great deal and overheard a wonderful snippet of their conversation. The dialogue went as followed (sans a few upbeat profane words):

Guy 1: Dude, I love your new beard.

Guy 2: Thanks. You need to grow some scruff!

Guy 1: I can’t! I’ll look too old.

Guy 2: Word, bro. I’ve been trying to look younger lately.

Okay, I stood amongst these gentlemen for about 7 minutes – enough time to properly estimate their age, as tall as they may be, at about 21. This made me think, since when is 21 old? When did college become the precursor to the retirement home? Why, as a society, are we so obsessed with growing older?

In the September 1994 issue of Psychology Today, this very mindset was discussed. The article, entitled Learning to Love Growing Old, by Jere Daniel, noted that, though we are psychologically unaware, aging “ultimately robs our life of any meaning.”

Essentially, we are unprepared to age, unprepared to face the challenges and costs that aging causes. Society today is preoccupied with being younger - hence we have the epidemic that is plastic surgery. We want to ignore aging, as much as possible. We want to put off the inevitable.

In today’s world, 21 year olds may be putting off their birthdays because they want to cling to their youth. The job market is rough and once one enters it, his/her youth slowly slips away.

Thus, even though it struck me as odd that students are worrying about how they appear, it makes perfect sense. Looking young is related to feeling young – and feeling young is a fleeting joy in the fast pace society in which we live.

Standing At Attention

My mother is a self-proclaimed “people watcher.” Whenever we would go shopping together, I went from store to store, while my mother sat on a bench and watched the different kinds of people pass. Thus, I blame genetics for the henceforth creepiness I will profess.

Already, in two of my classes this semester, I have discussed the changing personalities of a person, depending on where they are and whom they are with. This blog acts as my social experiment. Each week, I will sit in the HUB for an hour or so, pretending to be engaged in work, and listen for snippets of conversation or unusual activity. No, I won’t be listening to entire conversations. I am not that creepy and I will make sure privacy is, in fact, left in tact. No, I won’t be the awkward girl who sits right next to you when there are 50 other available seats, but I will be the girl who tries to learn something from the loud conversations, as there is a psychology to everything we do. There is reason, always to the madness.

Most recently, I was at Higher Grounds, Starbucks’ counterpart. I ordered and then joined the mass of others waiting for their order to be called, sleep-deprived and caffeine addicted. Suddenly a wild woman appeared at our sides. She stood, stalking the menu. After a minute or two, she turned and asked, “This isn’t the line, is it?” The girl next to me spoke. “Nope, it’s over there.” She pointed to the seemingly obvious line that was formed.

When the woman walked away, she turned to me, and said, “That’s like the fifth person to do that. I see them walk over and stand here, each time, knowing they aren’t in the right line.”

My initial reaction to this was: Rude. Why wouldn’t you help her if you knew she was doing wrong.

But then I thought about myself, would I risk drawing attention to myself to help someone in a pretty mundane task? Would I go out of my way to stir up a situation, when there is yet to be one?

Psychologist William James defined attention, in his textbook Principles of Psychology, as “taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness is of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.” Thus when we draw attention to ourselves we become vulnerable.

The girl in line was a kind person, kind enough to help the woman initially, but not so quick to take a risk in helping. If she were to tell the woman as soon as she saw her that she was in the wrong line, she would risk being vulnerable; she would risk placing her self in a position where focus shifts towards her.

This vulnerability forces us to side with ourselves, always. We will always “mind our own business” at all costs, to avoid stepping outside of the confines of our self.