Kicking Bicycles

luckyme · #1 11-12-2007, 02:30 PM

We see a person hit a pothole with their bike, attempt to repair the damage, become angry and kick and curse their bike. They never go over and kick the pothole.

Witnessing events like that seems a nice example of the depth of our innate tendency to imbue objects and events with 'intent' and 'purpose'. The more the object has an appearance or performance of a living entity the more likely it is to be 'blamed'.

A computer is more likely to be thought culpable than a fencepost, even though people will curse or physically attack almost anything at some point.

The range of objects and the severity of the event that it takes to see this 'man against inanimate' varies a lot with the individual. I'm a non-kicker, yet I see a lot of it around me. Is the difference more likely to be from my sociopathic tendencies or my general, seeming innate perspective of not seeing the world as being full of entities and events out to get ( or help) me? More likely they're related.

luckyme

FortunaMaximus · #2 11-12-2007, 02:53 PM

It's probably more an issue of maturity and having a rational worldview rather than sociopathy.

As people get older, usually they take things less seriously and are more likely to shrug small things off. Small steps of wisdom.

Side note: Is this "be a sociopath" week or something?

andyfox · #3 11-12-2007, 03:15 PM

People also tend to "animate" things that are important to them. "She's running fine," my dad used to say about his car, whereas for the washing machine, it was "it's running fine." But I don't think that has anything to do with the kicking. It depends on how important the object is to the person at that particular time or what mood the person is in. I've seen more people kick and hit vending machines, I think, that didn't produce than anything else.

luckyme · #4 11-12-2007, 04:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
It's probably more an issue of maturity and having a rational worldview rather than sociopathy.

As people get older, usually they take things less seriously and are more likely to shrug small things off. Small steps of wisdom.

Side note: Is this "be a sociopath" week or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean you're not wearing Orange?

Perhaps it's just that I find interesting the degree that some otherwise normal people will take their 'anger' at an inanimate object. Their vehicles and computers are almost worth naming. The flip side is how attached someone gets to their boat ..still treating an inanimate as animate.

luckyme

FortunaMaximus · #5 11-12-2007, 04:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's probably more an issue of maturity and having a rational worldview rather than sociopathy.

As people get older, usually they take things less seriously and are more likely to shrug small things off. Small steps of wisdom.

Side note: Is this "be a sociopath" week or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean you're not wearing Orange?

Perhaps it's just that I find interesting the degree that some otherwise normal people will take their 'anger' at an inanimate object. Their vehicles and computers are almost worth naming. The flip side is how attached someone gets to their boat ..still treating an inanimate as animate.

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it's not my color.

Emotional attachment to the inanimate is a strange thing, I agree. I guess it's people wanting to extend themselves to their possessions. Evolution of the primal dynamics of hierarchy and territorial instincts, maybe. Find it odd too, but that's part of human nature, I suppose.

Splendour · #6 11-12-2007, 05:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
We see a person hit a pothole with their bike, attempt to repair the damage, become angry and kick and curse their bike. They never go over and kick the pothole.

Witnessing events like that seems a nice example of the depth of our innate tendency to imbue objects and events with 'intent' and 'purpose'. The more the object has an appearance or performance of a living entity the more likely it is to be 'blamed'.

A computer is more likely to be thought culpable than a fencepost, even though people will curse or physically attack almost anything at some point.

The range of objects and the severity of the event that it takes to see this 'man against inanimate' varies a lot with the individual. I'm a non-kicker, yet I see a lot of it around me. Is the difference more likely to be from my sociopathic tendencies or my general, seeming innate perspective of not seeing the world as being full of entities and events out to get ( or help) me? More likely they're related.

luckyme

[/ QUOTE ]

Well you spend a lot more time with a bike and a computer than a fencepost or a pothole and you expect a lot more out of the bike and computer. Besides you probably don't own the fence post or pothole and they're not yours to fix while the bike and computer are much more complex inventions and they are yours to fix. There's also a lot more things that can go wrong with a bike and computer so we have to interact a lot more with them than a fencepost. So it may not be so much that we personify these objects as we just expect a lot more out of them. An addiction to convenience fostering dependency and our dependency is then interrupted causing frustration...pretty ironic! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

pokervintage · #7 11-12-2007, 05:52 PM

[ QUOTE ]
But I don't think that has anything to do with the kicking. It depends on how important the object is to the person at that particular time or what mood the person is in. I've seen more people kick and hit vending machines, I think, that didn't produce than anything else.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you ever seen anyone kick a pot "hole"?

pokervintage

pokervintage · #8 11-12-2007, 06:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
The more the object has an appearance or performance of a living entity the more likely it is to be 'blamed'.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's like blaming the dealer for giving the other player a winning card. Interesting subject. I wonder if the belief center for those that take this kind of action when a miscue befalls them is a spiritual one.

pokervintage

madnak · #9 11-12-2007, 07:11 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I've seen more people kick and hit vending machines, I think, that didn't produce than anything else.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's because it sometimes works!

Andy Ross · #10 11-12-2007, 08:37 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Emotional attachment to the inanimate is a strange thing, I agree.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is nonsense. Attachment to a painting or a book is not strange. We definitely have emotional attachments to our environments.

Expecting an emotional reciprocation from the environment *is* strange. My favourite book, even though I love it, didn't have it in for me when it gave me a paper cut. Neither did this POS bike when it didn't get the OP past the pothole.