Situational Behavior
The experiences we all have and the environments we find ourselves have a large influence over how we think and the behavior we exhibit. These circumstances played out over the course of extended periods of time develop in us habits of thought, perception, and behavior. Situations however have a more immediate impact on our behavior.
In one of the most telling experiments of the power of situations on our behavior, a group of students at Princeton University were instructed to give a lecture on the story of the Good Samaritan. The students were split into two groups, one group was told they were running late and the other group was told they were ahead of schedule. A person in on the experiment was planted in their path to the lecture hall as a homeless person to see how many would stop to ask if he needed help. Only ten percent of the group who were told they were running late stopped to help and sixty percent of the group who were told they were ahead of time stopped to help. In this situation time was the factor that influenced their behavior. Any question of the students personal beliefs were taken into account as these were all seminary students.
The importance of engineering our environments and experiences while being mindful of the situations we find ourselves is overlooked today. Our physical and emotional surroundings (this includes people) have much more of an influence on our behavior than most of us care to acknowledge. If we can be more mindful and aware of this we can do more to create the behavior we want as opposed to reacting to situations subconsciously.
#elliotyi
#paradigmleft
#habits
#mindset
In one of the most telling experiments of the power of situations on our behavior, a group of students at Princeton University were instructed to give a lecture on the story of the Good Samaritan. The students were split into two groups, one group was told they were running late and the other group was told they were ahead of schedule. A person in on the experiment was planted in their path to the lecture hall as a homeless person to see how many would stop to ask if he needed help. Only ten percent of the group who were told they were running late stopped to help and sixty percent of the group who were told they were ahead of time stopped to help. In this situation time was the factor that influenced their behavior. Any question of the students personal beliefs were taken into account as these were all seminary students.
The importance of engineering our environments and experiences while being mindful of the situations we find ourselves is overlooked today. Our physical and emotional surroundings (this includes people) have much more of an influence on our behavior than most of us care to acknowledge. If we can be more mindful and aware of this we can do more to create the behavior we want as opposed to reacting to situations subconsciously.
#elliotyi
#paradigmleft
#habits
#mindset
That's a very powerful illustration of an important point.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between setting goals-->creating habits-->engineering environments to pull out desired behavior-->achieving goals is powerful.
DeleteThis relationship was something I was ignorant to pretty much my entire life.