Kicking Bicycles

[luckyme]

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