Could you turn down your sociometer, please?
Lots of
interesting stuff to talk about in this article, so you can skim some parts and
carefully read others. What do you
think about this writers explanation of insulting in terms of evolutionary
biology? Is it true that our
sociometers are more sensitive to insults than to compliments? Is it true that most insults originate in
envy? If it is part of our biology,
should we embrace it or combat it? Do
you believe that willpower can fight this sort of thing, as the writer seems to
think? How do you combat feelings like
the desire to insult or to boast?
I found the light in which human emotions were portrayed in this article to be quite fascinating. That most, if not all, of our habits are genetically predetermined based on what enabled our ancestors to survive is comforting, but it also makes one wonder on what foundations our whole species is built.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that insulting other people and ruining their reputation is ‘good’ and should be encouraged if one wants to survive in this concrete jungle is, in a word, depressing. The article is saying that a person which openly insults and ruins other people’s reputations is more accepted among others and rises higher in the social hierarchy, which I most definitely disagree with. Although the person may experience temporary ‘victory’, I believe that most will naturally sympathize with the victim of an insult, which will cause the other’s reputation to fall. No one likes a bully.
Furthermore, I also do agree with the idea that most first-strike insults stem from envy. From my personal experience, I find that I get most angry when I feel like I, or someone I care about, has been wronged in some way. In other words, I feel most angry when I do not feel something is fair. I think this same sensation is present in many kids, which will often get upset when they view something as being unfair (hence the common phrase, “It’s not faaaaair!”). It seems as if fairness, empathy, compassion and similar human (as well as other species’ such as monkeys’ and elephant’s, see: ) attributes were forgotten when writing some parts of this article. Or do we also help others in order to feel they owe us something and thus use them as stepping stones to rise in our social hierarchy? I do not believe so.
Other than these points, I find myself agreeing with most of the other notions which were mentioned in the article. The existence of a built-in sociometer is intriguing and I think it truly is more sensitive to insults than compliments. Like the author, I believe that we should not let these evolutionary instincts determine what we become, but we should harness them into becoming the individuals we want to be. I think we live in a different world than where our ancestors lived and thus, like the article says, it might be inevitable for our pre-programmed selves to re-program if we want to succeed.