Content
Why People Do and Don't Act Impulsively
21.06.2024 10:00
Actions are the result of opinions developed based on character and experience.
A person is already prepared in advance to act in a situation similar to the one experienced, especially when previous experience has proven its effectiveness and safety in practice.
It is remembered and becomes a stable pattern of behavior until new situations and circumstances (reactions of new specific individuals) lead to adjustments to your behavioral pattern.
Justifications for impulsive behavior
In this sense, it is appropriate to divide impulsive actions into those that are predictable, relatively safe and understandable (above), and those that you commit under the influence of a “momentary” desire, without preparing in advance.
The first ones can also be called intuitive – with the rationale that intuition suggests the safest and most effective reactions.
When talking about actions of the second type, it is necessary to understand what impulse is in general.
In technical terms, this is understood as "the amount of motion equal to the product of the mass of a body and its velocity" and in the International System of Units (SI) it is measured in kilogram-meter per second (kg m/s).
However, in relation to behavioral reactions, an impulse is considered a sudden (unplanned) action under the influence of internal or external influences.
Internal influences in this case are instant desire, otherwise - the movement of illogical manifestations of the soul and heart, effective self-realization at a particular moment in time, says psychologist Andrei Kashkarov .
But even at the basis of such an impulse lie deep experiences and rethinking of unexpressed or hidden desires, inherent in human nature.
For example, you see a bike that you have long dreamed of at someone else - this is a childhood dream like "uneaten sugar in childhood". One of the impulsive desires will be to get closer to it, touch it, ride it, take a photo, record impressions, that is, to fulfill the dream.
It is quite possible that such an impulsive reaction will lead to an acquaintance and subsequent communication with the owner-biker. In any case, the fulfillment of the desire adds to your sense of quality of life, personal strength and prospects.
It is quite possible that the impulse of the behavioral reaction will excite new thoughts in you, leading to setting personal goals and objectives for a certain time - that is, updating plans for purchasing a bike by you.
This simple example can help us understand how consciousness works in a hidden format. Goal setting works. Priorities are chosen by the same principle, even without realizing the specific reasons. This is how sexual attraction (preferences) works, sympathy is formed.
Considering the same issue from the side of reactions to words, gestures, in communication, that is, verbal and non-verbal reactions (communication without words), but not necessarily related to body movements and, in general, actions, we will see almost the same picture.
A person strives for pleasure, for surprise, in the individual order and vision he desires.
For example, a person thinks like this: yes, I planned to buy a house in the Leningrad region, but having found myself in Rostov and having seen the beauty of the places and characters, having seen new (different, but desired in accordance with the dream) opportunities, he makes a decision within a few minutes or an hour.
Is this an impulsive act? Certainly. But taking into account the dream hidden until the time. Approximately the same (against logic and analysis of the situation) is indicative in personal relationships: "I want it and that's it."
"Well, let me make a mistake again, but I miss this." Remember the opinion expressed by the heroine of the feature film "Office Romance": "I have such an impeccable reputation that it's high time to compromise me" (Soviet two-part feature film, lyrical tragicomedy directed by Eldar Ryazanov).
Thus, a person understands the possible erroneous consequences of actions, but acts regardless of them. This is what distinguishes a person (a higher animal) from mammals of other species, and even robots with artificial intelligence, acting variably according to a complex but predictable logical program.
Why don't they act impulsively?
Having become accustomed to being in a comfort zone, people are afraid that by deviating from their own or someone else’s scenario, they will cause disappointment, resentment and aggression – in themselves, as well as in someone significant to them – another.
Fear of being ostracized, criticized (even unspoken) in a circle of significant and authoritative people - be it personal relationships or a work team of colleagues, they are afraid to act impulsively, and explain this with conclusions acceptable to the community in the manner of: “this does not correspond to the accepted corporate spirit” or even better: “this is evidence of an immature personality.”
Let's leave value judgments aside. But...
Pay attention to how children act in a similar situation. The common thing is that children, despite knowledge and upbringing, also have a feeling - the instinct of self-preservation. Yes, they understand that running out onto a busy road is dangerous.
But they are confident in their abilities, that nothing will happen to them. Headache - for parents.
However, children are typically more liberated, free - in the manifestation of actions, feelings. And actions. Precisely because they do not think deeply about them and the consequences.
If a child wants to do something, he does it: he doesn't walk, but skips, runs around a pole, sings a song and dances, not caring whether it's beautiful or not, good or bad. That is, he acts spontaneously, impulsively.
This spontaneity is lost by adults with experience of interacting in society.
Compared to children
That is, at the root of "non-impulsive" actions is fear again. In this case, losing comfort and reducing the quality of life. Therefore, adults are relatively more dependent, and children are not, despite their conditional dependence in almost everything - on parents or guardians.
Excessive self-conceit does not allow adults to return to the world of children. At the time, Emperor Alexander I said - "not to fulfill a dream is a sin."
Therefore, partly adults fulfill their own dreams - in the realization of children, but in fulfilling them, they try to correct the child in their own way; this is the main parental mistake at all times. And the retribution is inevitable in the misunderstanding of each other on the part of children and parents.
The benefits and harms of impulsive actions
Of course, under the Moon - there will always be consequences of actions. They can be assessed differently, it is individual, but not bad at all.
The main (typical) differences in attitudes towards behavioral reactions can be explained by the ineradicable thirst for hope for the best - for a specific person: one will say “without hope it’s bad”, another - “but with hope it’s even worse”.
One of the leaders of the Decembrist movement, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol, said in the Motovilov affair: “Sometimes it is better not to follow the law, but to follow the soul.”
The best solution comes from a combination of awareness (of the situation) and creative thinking.
In our time, when everyone is almost a manager of their feelings and acts in accordance with their character, situation and experience, due to mass urbanization and industrialization, attitudes towards many things have changed.
However, impulsiveness in decision-making and actions often helps. Especially for those and when making important, strategic decisions, when they are being watched and attempts are being made to predict, predetermine actions.
Earlier we talked about how to ask for time off from work without any problems.
