The Human Behaviour (III); The Influence of Fear

As this series draws to a close, I’ve covered the various causes of Human Behavioural changes and observations to the complexity about this complex mechanism that is within all of us.

Being a conclusive instalment, I’ve decided to tackle an issue on human behaviour that has been brought up in my previous instalments, namely influencing and the element of fear in one’s mindset and how it affects the human behaviour.

Mentioned in the 1st instalment (refer to article, “The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting”), fear is an attribute, more rather, that alters the human behaviour in ways often unnoticed from an onlooker’s perspective.

Fear is a scary (no pun intended) attribute that crafts a person’s mindset, which is ultimately, interrelated to his or her behavioural habits.

With reference to the previous instalment, fear causes changes personality-wise and also behavioural wise, for example, in tough and awkward social settings as mentioned.

It is thus no doubt that fear is a powerful tool used by people of power or authority in our modern society to, somehow or rather, “shape” and “control” the minds of its citizens; of which I’ll elaborate more later on.

The second factor in ultimate human behavioural alteration is the aspect of influence.

Mentioned in the 2nd instalment (refer to article, “The Human Behaviour (II); The Change”), the somewhat controversial issue of influence plays a part in human behavioural changes and structures.

Strong influences in the society, culture or even race can ultimately affect human behaviour whether adversely or otherwise. However, influences or rather the act of influencing, is a powerful tool along with persuasion as it is able to shape changes in the human behaviour.

Won’t this be a little scary if its used to “programme” the masses? To have your perceptions controlled through persuasion and influences?

Evidently, I’ve decided to do a final wrap-up on these two simple (but complicated in its own way) aspects as derived from my previous instalments mainly because I’m particularly affected and drawn to the fact that human behaviour can be controlled, shaped, fabricated and even manipulated to such an extent that it changes their entire perception and mindset, which forms a chain effect that in turn, affects the human behaviour.

Sounds like an awful lot doesn’t it?

Sadly in our society nowadays, the image of fear is often anchored to the technique of influence as these two aspects and attributes match side by side, like how a puzzle fits perfectly together.

What this means is that this method, as I would like to call it, is an effective catalyst, a potent mix, to control and shape, as mentioned.

Firstly, let us break down it, word for word.

The term influence is defined as “the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behaviour, opinions, etc of others” (as cited from dictionary.com).

What this means, in laymen terms, is that influence is basically a stage by stage process which coincides with the technique of persuasion as persuasion influences people to believe or even do a particular task or matter.

The term fear is defined as “an emotional response to threats and dangers” (as cited from Wikipedia.com).

Note the word emotional, used in its definition. Fear is often associated with emotions and emotions automatically constitutes into the mind which links to the behaviour.

This is a complex chain but logical in a sense as our behaviour is very much based on our emotions and perceptions. After all, behaviour is what gives humans their character and their unique facade due to the diversity of each and every single human mind.

Putting the two attributes together is interesting and powerful then. Think of the technique of influence as a gun and fear as its bullets; its the same relationship.
Without the gun, the bullets would be useless (unless loaded into another gun) and vice versa, which can be said in a more metaphorical sense in this case of influences and fear.

By inculcating the influence of fear in one’s mind, their actions or behaviour in this case, will be motored on by their “emotional response” which in this case, is fear, and results in certain changes in the human behaviour.
Influencing fear into people thus, is like a “loaded gun” and that means it is deadly and effective at the same time.

Though it may seem common, the influence of fear in our daily lives is so subtle that in many cases, we subconsciously accept these incoming fears and believe them, in doing so succumbing to the influence of fear, which may or may not contain truth, depending on the situation.

Over the pass few days, I’ve tried to observe such examples of the “subtle details” which indirectly, uses fear to influence. I had to find a source and had to observe people’s reaction after exposure to the source and how their behaviour would change in contrast.

And for that, I turned to the mass medium of the 21 century: the television.
The media is actually a powerful influence in people’s mind. From the high intellects, to the less fortunate, these people turn to the most common medium to gain information, exposure and also unknowingly, influence.

It helps conceptualise the fact that most people actually put their utmost trust in the media and the information it delivers.

Thus, as if on express, different influences get brought across very quickly in our modern society and that’s why human behaviour and perceptions can be so easily dictated via the media and its various mediums.

Though my observations in the outside world were in vain, I turned to school and finally found my due observation.

“Bowling for Columbine”, “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Fahrenheit 9/11”. Three
controversial films in their own rights, were shown to the classes, mainly due to educational purposes and also, to stimulate the students’ thinking in such controversies.

These films were very powerful in a sense that sensitive issues were tackled headfirst and information about various conspiracies were uncovered. Persuasion and influences were used deeply in these films too, particularly the influence of fear.
Though it may not seem as an accurate sample size, I did a rough observation on the behaviour of my fellow class and course mates who viewed the film and there was an astonishing difference before and after the film, behavioural wise.

Most of them reacted strongly as compared to their usual nature before watching such films as they were purely convinced. There were a handful though, that were sceptical about the things mentioned and were by far, unconvinced.

They voiced their opinions out after the films as we held a little discussion for each film screened and some of them underwent a distinctive change in behaviour.
Perhaps their believe was shaken or that they were deeply influenced by the speech. But I chose to think otherwise.

“Fear is what feeds the mind of horrors that can otherwise be devised” A quote that I came up (with a little influence from the film, Fahrenheit 9/11) that I feel, captures the essence of the “fear factor” in this case.

The aspect and issue of fear was what my observational subjects were probably exposed to, whether to a large or small extent, which influenced and persuaded them of their thoughts and mindset, thus resulting in the change of behaviour.

Many of the films mentioned have the fear of uncertainly hidden amongst the elaborated words that were flourished in the content which were subconsciously absorbed by viewers. This was probably because most of the films dealt their respective controversies with a certain degree of doubt.

Humans are not comfortable when they’re dealing with things that they are unsure of due to their nature and thus, an apt aspect of fear used.
However, the behaviour tabulated is subjective to individuals as some perceive it differently.

For some, their behaviour “shrinks” which will then result in them retreating and contemplating about what was shown to them. For others though, their behaviour strengthens and they gain a certain boost and motivation to make a change and difference and to evict the horror that they were presented with.

And this brings me to my next objective of pointing out the different benefits of fear.

Yes, fear will often reap negative effects for some, but like the mentioned above, certain individuals see fear as a source of motivation (refer to article, “Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force and Ambition”), which is largely ideal.

The motivation for improvement is fluid as for some, it is hard to find but for others, it comes naturally. By being able to turn negative aspects like fear, into positive aspects like motivation, I find that particularly enriching.

This will also mean a change in behaviour; a change for a better one. Which is largely due to the cultivation of motivation as motivation breeds positive behaviour; a vital aspect for improvement.

But this motivation for change is subjective, depending on the context as not all motivation for changes are positive and good natured. This is also where values and morals come into play as people are tested to tell what’s right to wrong, what’s good to bad.

People thus capitalises on this detail and uses fear as an influence; to gain motivation for change.

I’d like to think of the human behaviour as a litre of water, in a metaphoric sense.
It can take almost any form, as it is easily influenced to changes and it can take any shape, as it is unique to each individual.

Many people don’t pay attention to the delicate details of that “litre of water” and when it changes its form or shape but I find it particularly interesting to chapter its changes and find out about the causes and effects of it all.

Our mind and our behaviour is a very versatile aspect of our “internal motherboard”. Foreign influences (such as fear) can alter its balance and its function.

I hope that we’ll all be able to take full control of our minds and thus, free ourselves from the various external aspects that our mind is faced with which affects behaviour.

“Life is full of daily complexities and mysteries...” (taken from “The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting”) and the human mind and behaviour is one such example.

I hope that this series has indeed gained a better insight into such “complexities and mysteries” of life and enrich one’s perception from a personal viewpoint.

The Human Behaviour (II); The Change

My pervious instalment of The Human Behaviour covered the aspect of the reaction and feelings of people in particular social settings. Issues covered included the general outline of human behaviour, their distinct roles in a group social setting, humans being emotive creatures, the issue of fears in a social setting and many more.

This observational series is one that requires time and much observation in order to be acute in its reports.

I’m however, tackling the approach via a means of my personal perspective and thus, certain claims and observations might be subjective to the individual.

The ambiguity of a topic as such is evident.

As mentioned in the previous instalment (refer to article, The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting), the human mind is subjective and complex in its own nature. The mind of a person, being the core constitution of a person’s behaviour, decides the person’s behaviour and the way he or she acts, which might shed some light on the ambiguity of the behaviour of humans; we rarely behave similarly.

“the action or reaction under specified circumstances” (as cited from dictionary.com) fully defines the term, behaviour and naturally, as proof to my pervious claim about behaviour being subjective, “action” and “reaction” are rarely carbon copies from one human being to another.

Human behaviour therefore, is a very vast and diverse topic.

Moving on to my substantive for this instalment.

The society around us changes and shapes the very tomorrow for the lives of those living in it. For example, the government might ban education tomorrow and that will surely affect the people in the particular country (with expected mixed reactions, of course).

It is no denying the fact that changes are evident in our everyday lives, and whether if its a good or bad thing, depends purely on the mindset of a person, which often follows in a series of differentiated human behaviour.

But the question remains; how will change ultimately affect the human behaviour? Are we so superficial as to the fact that changes can alter our mindset, in doing so, our behaviour?

There is truth to that statement.

In a sense, changes fosters a different mindset due to the core dependency that humans respond to stimuli. I feel that change itself is a stimuli and thus, we, as living organisms, would and should respond to the changes around us, in terms of either refining, adapting or even totally revamping our mindset.

Though it may seem unrealistic or even nonsensical, humans undergo a series of “revamps” which also can be termed changes, in their mindset and human behaviour. Its amazing that the behaviour of humans can change drastically throughout one’s life, as I’ve found out during my observational period.

Observing changes often takes up a bunk of time and effort, mainly because changes are sometimes uncalled for and highly situational. Knowing this, I knew it was really hard for me to actually observe changes and how those changes affect human behaviour.

Thus I came up with a little something called Contrasting. It may seem complex but in fact, it is much easier to contrast rather than sit and wait for a change to actually happen; some of which can take years to cultivate a significant change in a human’s behaviour.

The concept of Contrasting is a fairly simple one. Basically, when I observed something significant in the field of human behaviour, I would compare the behaviour with the former self. This was, a comparison is created and one would be able to analyse the differences in human behaviour before and after these changes without actually witnessing them.

However, not that Contrasting may work only for certain observational types and the results are more rather, fluid and subjective and observations can only be treated as a generalization.

A good example where I used Contrasting, in a general viewpoint, is in the change of age and its effect on the human behaviour.

The change of age is an aspect that affects the one’s behaviour, in drastic fashion at that, I feel. This can be due to a number of both scientific and psychological aspects that leads to this change.

On a scientific basis, Senescence, which is the big word used to describe the process of aging, often spurs different types of “social, psychological and physical changes” (as cited from Wikipedia.com).

These psychological changes that people undergo during aging hints at the change in behaviour too, in drastic differences and fashion. The change in behaviour for the aspect of age often varies from one end of the spectrum to the other.

You would normally envision old people to be quiet, soft spoken and always keeping to themselves, which is only half correct. Age does make a person keep their problems to themselves as they gain a higher sense of maturity and wisdom; they do not want the people around them to worry. And in this sense, their behaviour will obviously change as they will become less idealistic and more down to earth, accepting things for what they are and as mentioned, keeping their thoughts to themselves in order for the society to not worry for them.

However, this is only one side of the spectrum that I’ve mentioned.

The other half of the spectrum is vocalised (pun intended) by those who develop their sense of right to speak up or being more sociable.

Though the majority lies with the former group, there are exceptions.

My daily bus rides to school granted me this insight for I observed a particularly contentions elderly man; he was voicing his opinions loudly on the bus. Though I enjoyed his rapid comments about various social issues, I pondered on the change that age has taken on him.

He was so sociable that he even spoke to another elderly man who boarded the bus about highly personal topics such as their children.

There was no clear indication that both of them knew each other but the sociable elderly started conversing in fluent dialect, as if they were long time friends. He even helped the other elderly man down the bus as he had difficulty walking.

Indeed that was an act of kindness. But I began to reason, in my head, about the behaviour of the sociable old man. Clearly the change of age has taken him (he was 65) and now has a sociable, and open mindset; lets face it, how many times have you seen younger adults being so open to people they don’t know?

Take note here that I’m not trying to criticise this type of behaviour but more rather, point it out, as people nowadays are somewhat ignorant of such subtle aspects of life.

I feel that another subtle detail that people fail to take observation and notice, in our society is all around us; our environment.

A new sign board, a different coat of paint, a new building built; these are all but a small part of our environment. I’m not trying to be over critical here but one of the main influences of the changes in behaviour is the environment around us.

When one is thrown into a new environment, one often feels lost, disorientated and insecure. Without a doubt, the human behaviour of the particular person will change accordingly. This is why people tend to be more introverted and inward when first introduced to a new environment.

The feeling of disorientation and insecurity makes a person less adventurous as they are afraid to move out of their safety zones and will also result in people putting on “false fronts” either to deceive or simply due to their fears (refer to article, The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting).

This however, is more often, a temporary issue as the insecurity of a new environment will fade as soon as that person gets familiar with the surroundings. Again, this is an issue of speed and subjectivity as certain people can adapt almost on the spot while other takes weeks or even months; its that diverse.

People thus undergo a duration of altered behaviour when they’re introduced to a new environment that they’re not used or comfortable with.

Most change aspects are on a long term basis but the change in environment is one of the few aspects that yields temporary change in behaviour.
As mentioned earlier in the article (and the previous instalment), the human mind and human behaviour is closely intertwined together, which means that this serves that another platform for the basis of the change of behaviour; the change in one’s mindset.

Though it may not be easy to change and, with reference to the earlier mention, revamp your mind, it can and has been done, though many people don’t notice this due to its understated observation and notice.

Very so often or another, we’ll come across that one inspirational book that will change your perspective about something. Mind, it need not be a book but can be anything, anything that inspires you to think, reflect and change your behaviour.
The change of mindset is one that not many people are willing to make nor will they notice that they have done so.

A simple quote like “every blessing ignored becomes a curse” (from The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho, 1988) for instance, can change a person’s mindset and behaviour for they are then inspired.

This little motivation (refer to article, Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force and Ambition) leads to a change in behaviour as the person is influenced and motivated to lead a different life, for example and this constitutes to a change.

The change of influence is also based on the mind as the mind perceives, get influenced and acts based on the combination. I find the basis of influence extremely strong and evident amongst teenagers.

Perhaps at a young age, people are more easily influenced due to premature thoughts and unfiltered mindsets. Bad influences can thus pervade these vulnerable minds, corrupting them and tainting them with negative imagery.

I’m sure there are cases of teenagers attempting to emulate their so called “role models” by copying their actions or even mimicking them word for word, stride by stride. Let us question these influences; are they positive or negative?
It is again, subjective. Like a coin having two different sides, it is not exception here.

I feel that altering one’s behaviour based on influences is rather “self-zombifying”. The main reason being that I feel each and every single individual should be distinct and prominent; no two people are the same entirely.

Instead of subjecting to influence and mimicking due to that influence, why not change and create your own influence?

Changes are very diverse in the field of human behaviour, as with the entire aspect of it on the whole. There are many factors that contribute to the change in human behaviour of which I’ve only touched on a few.

The human behaviour is a complex issue which isn’t easy to unravel.

For my coming edition, I’ll be concluding about my observations regarding human behaviour and giving my final analysis of the psychological side of expression.

*The above references made to various authors are in no way used for the reason of blog promotion.

The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting

Life is full of daily complexities and mysteries, even though most people are immune to certain aspects of various society implications.

This is why I personally feel that the skill of Observation, is an invaluable one to have in any setting of our modern society (refer to previous article Observation; The Art Of Reading Your Environment Like a Book).

To me, I see every social outing or social event as an opportunity to study and observe, and thus that is actually one of the reasons why I endeavoured this personal project of mine; to do a three part observational project on the complex human behaviour.

The human mind works in many different and complex ways unfathomed (refer to previous article, The Human Mind; A Powerful Tool or just a Voice inside us?) and I find this detail extremely appealing. Reason being the scope of the human mind; its almost endless.

The mind invokes the behaviour and thus completes a person. The limitless aspects and diversity of the mind is so immerse for it holds no boundaries and that is what makes the human mind and behaviour so appealing to me.
No doubt, there is a link between the mind and the behaviour for the mind controls the behaviour and in some cases, vice versa.

Throughout my field studies and observations, I’ve observed some interesting details and reactions from my study subjects, who were people I totally didn’t know; they were just random members of the public.

For this part of my observation, The Social Setting, I took to densely populated areas, bustling with human activity. I started out with places like the train station, shopping malls, eating outlets and general meeting places where masses of people would designate to meet up.

I wanted to explore and observe the people’s reactions when they’re in social situations such as, being in big groups, their facial expressions when they’re in groups, the social composition and aspects along that line, things people normally wouldn’t observe or take notice.

I’ve been sitting in a particular train station for quite some time now on one of my research days, doing a general observation of the people and the activity in the station. It was interesting in a sense that somehow, I felt a sense of organization amongst the what seemingly mass of people rushing thru and fro, trying to catch their trains; a particular chain of order in the system was in place.

My attention however, was caught by a bunch of elderly people, meeting up in the station.

Interestingly, I did a little comparison with the people around them, who were mainly alone or in smaller groups.

I saw laughter. I saw excitement. And probably most importantly, I saw joy and happiness in the eyes of the elderly who were meeting up, something the people around didn’t seem to show on their faces. Whether they’re deep in thought or rushing off to work (as it was around the morning rush hour) I didn’t see what I saw in the group of elderly.

Why is this so?

Human beings are social creatures. Its is in our nature, instinct and blood to be socially involved.

This is evident in our everyday lives as we are able to see people having more fun than being alone, but of course, there are minorities of those who prefer and seek happiness when they’re all alone in a solitary world.

Their activity level increases when they’re in a group as well; Social habits and settings help people open up.

Passive and inward individuals are more likely to open themselves up and speak when they’re in a familiar social setting mainly due to the fact that they are comfortable.

The insecurity in them, during social situations, is compromised by comfort and thus they open up and speak their thoughts. They become less conscious or afraid especially in big groups as a result.

I’m sure that at some point in your lives, one might have come across a wildlife documentary about animals seeking shelter and protection in big groups; humans work in the same way as well.

Except in our case, it isn’t the battle of the fittest and for survival but a psychological and mental insecurity that eludes these individuals.
However in every social group, there are always prominent characters that stand out. Many calls it the stereotypes of a social group, but I simply like to term these as prominent personalities in any group setting.

You’ll always have the strong, outspoken and domineering one. This is the person in the group that makes decisions and starts the conversation going. We commonly term this person the leader or initiator. These people usually behave aggressively and all out.

You’ll then have the supplier, the support and material person that usually comes up with the ideas and suggestions. There are many terms for this role but I like to call them the resource providers. They provide valuable inputs and suggestions to the direction in any social setting and they behave passively.

Finally, you’ll have the typical listener. They are the ones that get the work done but in this case, they listen to the flow of the conversation dictated by the leader and contributes.

The basic build-up of a social setting is highly subjective as it largely depends on the configuration of a particular group. The above that I’ve mentioned is just a general guide upon my observation in a particular social setting.

As mentioned earlier in this substantive, human behaviour is a limitless field of study. This also means that each and every individual is different in terms of behaviour and mindset.

It is natural that everyone has different interest, needs and wants and thus, social groups will not always work out every time.

However, the biggest obstacle that most people face when they come against a difficult social setting is fear.

“a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil and pain etc” (as cited from dictionary.com) as such often appears in certain social settings.

The aspect of fear is that it plays on one’s emotions and supplements it with negative thoughts that often scares or discourages oneself. In a social setting perspective, fears of meeting new people, for instance, often eludes individuals, especially those of conservative personality.

In such situations, such individuals will often retract into their “safety shells” and either hide or keep a low profile.

We call such a fear a strangers Xenophobia. The human behavioural aspect when it comes to fear is especially prominent as human behaviour drastically changes when subjected to the essence of fear.

Public speaking, is another common fear people have and that occurs in a social setting.

It isn’t easy to speak in front of a huge crowd due to the reason that almost everyone is insecure about themselves; they are subconsciously affected by what people view of them. And thus most people will dawn on a different facade when they’re exposed to a tough social setting such as public speaking.

I personally feel that the fear of public speaking lies with the idea of being a social misfit if derived of a wrong impression. Everyone in society wants to be socially accepted in the right way and thus would be very conscious about their appearance or performance when they’re under public scrutiny.

The social setting is a vast exploration for human behavioural observations. However, there are many other fields to cover and consider in terms of the observation of human behaviour, which I’ll cover in my coming additions.

Interestingly Interesting Interest

Just a quick update on the progress of my interesting research for my personal project. Observations for the first addition is more or less done and I'll probably post up by Friday or so. I've observed some interesting details; its well worth the wait. Hang in there my readers!

School was pretty interesting today, I guess; everyone got a little taste of the professional life.

One ICA (or two for that matter) ends while another is about to start. Looking forward to 0621's ICA2. Its gonna be interesting.

The book I'm reading now's pretty interesting too. Surprisingly, its perceptions of life and motivations and dreams are similar of that of my personal ideas. Interesting is it not?

Uh okay, lets see. Time for a little random thought:


Imagine if the world without the word "Interesting". The single most general descriptive word would be obsolete.


"What an (interesting) dress"
"Thats an (interesting) piece of art"
"(Interesting), we should talk more about this over lunch"
"The movie was (interesting) but I felt that the shots could be better"
"You're an (interesting) person indeed"

Similarly, the simple term "Interest" can be used to form a complete sentence with its variations.


eg. "Interestingly interesting interest"

But imagine if someone came up to you and said something like that. Okayy...


So yea, there you go. I'll post my (interesting) article soon, have faith, its (interesting) work in progress. Till then, stay golden.


Cya'll Later.

*Pardon my repeatitive purpose here. I'm trying to bring the issue concerning the overusage of certain words in the society, Interesting being one example*

Outlook.

Okay, after a couple of days doing intensive observational research for a said project that I was given, it somehow inspired me to do a little follow up.

I've always been a fan for the diversity of human behaviour and over the past couple of days or so, I've observed a myriad of different human expressions, reactions and actions, interesting really.

So, this is my plan of action for the next couple of weeks:

I'll be taking on a "personal project" where I'll record weekly observations on human behavioural stimulus and do a write up, weekly at least, on the week's observations. This project will be a 3 entry process (tentative) and I'll post my various write ups on this page.

I'll field my observational research on a variety of grounds and events, just to fully explore the lengths of human behaviour.

I've also foreseen certain time constrains that come with the new school term. Taxing as it may seem, I'll try to adhere to the demands of this "personal project" and post regularly.

Till then, my readers, stay sharp and check back regularly!

Cya'll later.

Observation; The Art of Reading your Environment like a Book.

Today's a fruitful day for me personally, of details which I'll go through later in the article.

Humans are sensory creatures, and this leaves much to debate about. We are gifted with five sense, namely touch, hearing, taste, smell and of course, sight.

They say that we often rely too much on a particular sense and research has shown that the sense of sight, especially, is the most heavily relied on, except maybe for certain individuals (the blind for example).

Is this considered a weakness? By relying too much on a particular sense, are we somewhat applying immunity to our consciences and filtering what we perceive in the world?

The sense of sight, is heavily relied on. For those who doubt this statement (or claim, more rather), do a little experiment and contemplate the results; Blindfold yourself for an entire day and try to live your life normally as you would with sight.

In common cases, normal people who attempt the above experiment will face difficulty in carrying out their daily activities as we humans, rely alot on sight. People get disorientated without sight and that's not a big surprise at all.

"Never judge a book by its cover". I'm sure most if not all of you have heard of this saying. This is played around the over-reliance of the sense of sight, so much so that the "book" is judged by its exterior appearance, its "cover" rather than its contents and ideas.

That is a metaphoric saying, yes. But in a way, it does hold some truth to our daily lives. More often then not, sight is used or rather, misused in our daily lives and this is especially evident in terms of human relations.

It is proven that people tend to favour better looking things or objects, or in the human relation's case, people, as compared to their counterparts.

It is rather disturbing that our society relies so much on visual appearance nowadays. This is so impactful that even the fate of business deals or competitions can be decided and swayed based on the visual appeal of the person.

It can thus be said that sight is a powerful thing as it fabricates our thoughts and perceptions about the environment around us. Your eyes, or I would rather call, "Windows to the World" is the medium and the source that brings about your vision and sight and with those, your perception of the world.

And that brings me to the main emphasis of this article; the Power of Observation.

"an act or instance of regarding attentively or watching" (as cited from dictionary.com)

In a theoretical way, yes. But I feel that there is much more then meets the eye then "attentively" and "watching".

Indeed, observation, simply put is just "watching attentively" but let us look at a more psychological aspect of the concept of observation.

To observe, is to learn and to find out. This is where the "watching" part comes in. It remains largely unnoticed but as one observes a particular incident, setting, or even a particular person, your subconscious mind creates an mental image in the head and this is when an impression is created, an impression of a place, an impression of a person etc.

This is just a general concept in your head, and to gain a more detailed insight on a particular observation, and this is where the "attentively" part comes in. By paying close attention to the fine and precise details of a matter, one will be able to gain a insightful observation to the things around them.

Mind you, this is not easy to master. Observation is tedious process, as I've found out, a couple of hours back.

I set myself a task to observe two specific places in the country (of which I will not specifically mention due to various reasons), largely to the benefit of a project that I was supposed to take on.

I've never thought observation was an easy thing to do probably because I one who will struggle for action if I judge an environment too mundane for my liking.

However recently, under the influence of my father, I've slowly interest myself in the art of observation. The myriad of people expressions and the various significant incidents that you see on this blog itself are so called "products" of my observations.

So why is observation so hard? "Attentively Watching" something doesn't sound as hard as say, Learning Spanish, or is it?

We are brought up in a society as such that people do not normally observe their surroundings closely, especially the Asian society as such. Thus I feel that in a way, Observation is to a large number of people, a social faux pas.

Is observing really something that makes you different? (refer to Article, Differentiation; not your Average Math Question)

During my period of observation, I've personally noted no less then 7 different individuals throwing weird glances and looks at me as I sit on benches or even stand in a corner with my notebook, scribbling furiously as I pen down my thoughts about my observation.

The society is a discreet one indeed and I'm sure the core reason in their response is that they are not used to this kind of action. People are not used to other people observing them (or just that they seem to) thus get uncomfortable.

They were not the only ones feeling uncomfortable though. I endured glance after glance and stayed focused on my task at hand. It somehow dawned on me that the society isn't one that encourages observation.

The constant hunger to improve time and time again and the motivation to better ourselves. That is how our society is turning out nowadays. As a result, the stress factor eats into people's lives and thus they develop a kind of "immunity" to observe interesting details of everyday life. They hardly have the time to take a step back and look at the lighter side of life and they hardly have time to observe.

Tragic, this is. For the great demands of our society takes a toll on its people adversely; it is evident even as you walk along the streets.

Many do not see the benefits of observation, though its a highly subjective result. It personally interests me to observe my environment. It keeps me in check and also allows me to see the other side that the world and life itself has to offer.

I don't want to numb myself to the variety this world has to offer and I feel that we shouldn't let certain social faux pases of the society hold us down.

Human beings have been in the never ending quest of more knowledge and I feel that environment observation is part of that quest for knowledge. A daunting task it is, to observe successfully but why shouldn't we?

So the next time you see someone with a pen and a notebook jotting down notes in a corner in any particular setting, think of him not as a social faux pas or a weirdo but a person who's observing and reading his environment and surroundings in detail.