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What is the power behind a shared experience?
In my Bioelectricity class this week, We learned that it is the low resistance pathways between the billions of myocardial cells in the heart that allow this amazing organ to beat in synchrony. We also learned that in a particular study, one subject's EKG could be measured on another person's EEG simply through touch (http://www.reiki.org/Download/electricity_of_touch1.pdf). It's incredible to think that a signal we are not consciously aware of can have a measurable impact on another person's mind and even heart.
Thinking more broadly: Who hasn't felt an urge to yawn within a few minutes of being in the presence of other yawning people? Or burst out laughing over an absurd happening that might not really have been funny? We encounter these types of shared experiences throughout our everyday lives.
Low resistance enables heart cells work together in synchrony. How can we
as species, work together taking advantage of our connected world?
Johnson Tam-Lit
Johnson Tam-Lit
From a coaching perspective the "shared experience" of a problem or situation releases creativity and possibilty beyond the ability of one person.
As this happens on a macro level, I am not surprised that synchronicity occurs at a cellular level. And also that it is a possiblity if not a reality of occuring at a mental and a spiritual level.
If you look at the anatomy of a motor neurone there are two factors at play, one is low resistance and the second is insulation. The second act to produce focus, direction and little loss of energy. When you bring that concept back up to a macro interpersonal level ; this is about commonality of purpose.
So in order to take full effect of synchronicity both low resistance and insulation must be in place.
As someone once said "Friendship multiplies joy and divides sorrow.
Josh Mayourian 50+
I find it very interesting how you discuss coaching, and commonality of purpose. I don't know if this is the "coaching" direction you were trying to take, but, I have been involved in sports all my life, and this is highly applicable. Through working together, and working at a common goal, some powerful bond stays together forever. I still talk about great experiences developed from a basketball team I was part of over 5 years ago with former teammates. Through this sports team I can totally agree with your statement that 'the "shared experience" of a problem or situation releases creativity and possibility beyond the ability of one person.'
In a sense, teamwork takes place at the micro level, as you have discussed in the body. There are so many different processes involved in the body's functions, and to make each bodily function occur, many biophysical or biochemical processes must occur that is behind the scenes.
alexander mccrary
Amy Stark
Orlando Hawkins 20+
so you may understand how this happens on biological and physiological level but you want to understand how this could apply to the macro world as well or am I just to ignorant about this issue?
nonetheless its an intriguing question and I'm very interested in the responses and would love to know more about the findings you guys (and girls) find in your research
Colleen Flanigan 500+
Every day humans perceive so many things and people as threats unconsciously, but at a milonga (tango party) the intention to have great connections leads to a room filled with positive connection (mostly:)...not sure how to link the tango directly to working together as a species in a more practical achievement sense, although bonding through human physicality, need for touch and sensuality in ways complementary to handshakes, sex, and greeting hugs, is vital to creating joy and positive outcomes. Tango lifts me up and then i can ripple out much better energy to everyone I meet. And when i feel off center, like my nervous vibration is too high, if i dance with a really grounded steady person, we balance each other out. as I keep moving to other partners, I aim to align myself and others within and without. Plus it is fun! It is important work to take time to focus on being in our bodies in cooperation to help each other's hearts. Thank you for your work!! Maybe someone can hook up some people's hearts to monitors while they are tangoing? I'd be up for that:)
George Kong 30+
In lifelong relationships, we share so many experiences over a span of such a period of time, that the makeup of our brains... begin to mirror each other in some profound ways. As though our essence flows into each other - beyond the vessel of the cells that make up the body and mind of an individual.
Even without direct contact, I share many experiences with my fellow humans. There is a regularity and rhythm to our universe, our specific temporal location that is embedded within the fabric of all our lives. This is simultaneously mundane and profound - language, culture, human emotions, the repeating structures of families, friends, societies.
At many levels we are truly connected to each other - each sharing much more similarity than dissimilarity. The world would be a better place if we could recognize and embrace that simple fact.
Andrew Leader 50+
Now suppose there were some way to take those projections and read them from someone's mind. Each person's view of me is like a picture from another angle. What makes any one person's angle more valid than another? What makes my own conception of me more important than anyone else's? Is the me in my mind somehow innately more me than the me in their mind? After all, the nature of these different "me's" is ultimately the same: it is the projection of this entity onto a conscious and subconscious. How many times have you been confronted with an experience in which you see that someone else knows you better than you do yourself?
I am at once an entity and a perception of that entity. As a somewhat sentient creature, I invoke Descartes here: cogito ergo sum. By this tenet, I argue that the perception of myself outweighs the reality of being myself. I could depart with these hands, these legs, this torso, this face, and my identity would remain so long as I can perceive and be capable of self-awareness. But then again, what makes my perception of myself superior to the perception of me by others?
I'm not religious, so I'm always surprised when I find myself quoting the Bible. I heard "Esto Les Digo" by Kinley Lange in Spanish before I did in English, and I didn't have any idea it was biblical. Some text from the song:
"Donde dos o tres, se reunen en mi nombre, alli estoy yo en medio de ellos."
English:
"Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I, in the midst of them."
barbara ann spencer
Leonardo Guedes 500+
Shokrullah Amiri 10+
People of working age who live alone increase their risk of depression by up to 80% compared with people living in families, says a Finnished stud:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/health-17475240
Tony Cosgrove
I think you are on to something. I've seen a number of people living alone go through very tough times, People need people.
Shokrullah Amiri 10+
My point is that first we need to maintain shared experience with family-siblings, cousins and parents.
It is really relieving that you have them at hard time.
Anu Mani
Veronika Possek
Tony Cosgrove
Shared experience also serves rhetorical functions (to positive or negative ends). Shared experience is a tool of persuasion, perhaps through a narrative pathway, as multiple individuals identify with a larger shared story.
But when it comes to touch (and proximity), an additional factor enters the equation: intimacy. What a basic human need. It's even a "Love Language" (see Gary Chapman's 5lovelanguages.com). Some people prefer to give/receive emotional love through touch more than others. And by the growing research on touch, it appears to have empirically supported ability to have a variety of bioelectric and physiological effects. I find this fascinating.
To tie this all to something current and tangible (pardon the pun), consider the aversion many people have to touch. In media (especially entertainment), we see a reluctance of some characters to express affection through touch. This is especially pronounced between members of the same sex. When touch is a basic human need, is our media influencing some to refrain from touch, which from the references above has the power to help build relationships through shared experience?
Kudos to the "Free Hugs" people http://youtu.be/vr3x_RRJdd4 . The viral nature of this video suggests that the world could use more hugs. It is curious that empirical research is beginning to explain the mechanisms and processes behind the basic transactions of human interaction. Great topic, Maria!
Harnsowl Ko 50+
Gregory Smith
Joanna Cruz
Conversation can be easily made in an environment involving food. Food can become a common denominator or topic of discussion or comedy that breaks the ice: “Where do you want eat?,” “Why don’t you want to eat there?,” and “What foods are you allergic to?.” It can lead to other conversation topics.
Eating at a specific restaurant for a special occasion can become a tradition that creates a lifelong bridge between groups of friends or creates an opportunity for friends to catch up after a lack of contact. Any time long distance friends visit, I make a point of it make a food date to renew our friendship.
I always find myself creating the strongest bonds over food because it is so universal and versatile.
Sophie Rand 50+
Raphael KAHN
John Eichinger
Matthew Schacht
So building relationships, at least the good kind, means reducing the negative emotions that divide people. That's what I believe.
Veronica Shalotenko 50+
I agree that there is always a certain amount of psychological resistance involved in building new relationships. What I find really interesting, though, is that this psychological resistance is not an obstacle to the shared experience that Maria describes in her question. That is, even if two people are complete strangers, we could see traces of the EKG of the first on the EEG of the second (as long as they’re touching, of course). There seem to be two levels of connection between people that are not necessarily dependent on one another – the physical and the psychological. Based on the EKG/EEG example, there is significantly less resistance involved in physical connection than in psychological connection. This result is, of course, what we expect. I wonder, though, whether the level of psychological connection between the subjects in the EKG/EEG example has any effect on the strength of the EKG artifact seen on the EEG. Would the EKG artifact appear stronger if the subjects shared a psychological connection?
John Eichinger
My chapter reading is talking about psychophysical measures of sensory sensitivity. (Mind reading is not in here). The rule of social proof. Electroshock, hmm. Anyway, less pain if a subject experiencing the same electroshocks as you, exhibits a higher tolerance for the pain. Herds? Do you have to be connected to the EKG/ EEG with suction cups? Oh, and you both have to be in the same room.
Matthew Schacht
Les Dabney
Natalie Abrahamian
Just like the electrical propagation that fuels each pump of our heart, every little experience in our life may be pumped by these shared experiences as well - starting the first day of kindergarten with a group of unfamiliar five-year-olds, helping the passenger sitting next to you on the plane put on his oxygen mask during an emergency, etc.
Simon Khuvis 50+
A famous, or rather, infamous example of shared experience leading to a less-than-desired outcome is Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological phenomenon in which a hostage begins to empathize with his or her captor, sometimes even acting in the captor's defense. The human brain is hard-wired for survival, and during a traumatic event, it reaches out to others for physical and emotional support. Group cohesion is enforced by this deep-seeded instinct for survival.
Good experiences, bad experiences -- experiences at any extreme of the emotional spectrum are conducive to bonding, but this also means that we have to lend special consideration to any actions we take that are motivated by these instincts.
Roy Bourque 20+
I like Jewel's song "hands"; In the end, only kindness matters.
Good deeds are contagious; if only we could keep a positive attitude even when the chips are down. I have found that people will come to your aid in crisis when they know that you help others.
Yu-An Chen 50+
I totally agree with you that '' Good deeds are contagious." Here is a paper (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908235/pdf/main.pdf) that gives experimental supports about how behaviors of an individual human can be affected by observing the people around through social conformity. having positive attitude as a group can have amazing effect to others.
Roy Bourque 20+
Steven Nikolidakis 50+
Matthew Wieder 50+
Ariel Habshush 50+
I also believe good deeds are contagious. On the same note, bad deeds are also contagious. There is an ancient Hebrew phrase: “mitzvah goreret mitzvah, averah goreret averah.” In English this translates to "one good deed will bring another good deed; one transgression will bring another transgression." If a person witnesses another doing acts of kindness, he will be inspired and continue to follow in their footsteps and do good. However, if we act badly, others might be influenced to do the same. They might reason that the action is not as terrible as they originally thought. Therefore, we must be careful with our actions because they have can have an impact on others.
Roy Bourque 20+
Christophe Cop 500+
And how about the more visual, auditory and tactile stimuli people experience together, combined with empathy or mirror neurons as an explanation?
I don't see how these effects have been accounted for.
Andrew Tam
These have not been accounted for, perhaps, because they are legitimate answers to the question at hand; and this is good - thank you bringing them to my knowledge!
I agree with you completely: the visual, auditory and tactile stimuli are all parts of a shared experience, and it is the empathy / mirror neurons that may explain the lowering of resistance between people.
I think the TEDtalk that Maria posted (Charlie Todd: http://www.ted.com/talks/charlie_todd_the_shared_experience_of_absurdity.html) thoroughly demonstrates this.
With the experiments demonstrated in his talk, its difficult to know whether or not people laugh because it is funny individually, or because other people are there and it becomes funny together.
Perhaps two individuals will find it funny, but not show it - only when they acknowledge each other do their empathy / mirror neurons kick in, and they will show each other that they both find it funny, and then more people will tag on, and it becomes contagious.
At least for the Improv All experiments, the shared feeling is one of laughter, and because people are experiencing it together, they feel more connected to one another.
In particular I really liked the high fives up the staircase act, because the initial shared experience of a gloomy, monotonous morning commute to work was changed to one of "alright, I'm gonna get a high five!" and everyone really seemed to be enjoying the experience together as opposed to suffering together.
Maria Georgescu 50+
One, we are born with the ability and drive to implement these moments of “shared experience”. Do you think this disappears or becomes more hidden as we grow up?
Second, could we duplicate these pathways or characterize them so that they are reproducible across the board?
Rekha Bhandarkar
Nicolette Sinensky 50+
I agree. The idea of mirror neurons allowing us to connect on a deeper level is fascinating. In his TED talk, (http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html) Vilayanur Ramachandran spoke about how these mirror neurons allowed us to develop as a civilization and begin to learn from each other to create a culture.
I think learning from each other is the ultimate form of shared experience. Not only do the individuals involved experience something together, they learn something that stays with them for the rest of their lives, forever perpetuating that bond.
Camille Van Pembroke
Rhona Pavis 50+
Andrew Kiang 50+
According to this article, http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~knutson/ans/kosfeld05.pdf , the stimulus of touch can increase trust and relieve stress between people because of the release of oxytocin.
An experiment, http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~knutson/ans/kosfeld05.pdf, serves to point out that oxytocin does increase trust, but it is context dependent. As in, randomly touching people will not necessarily increase trust.
Rekha Bhandarkar
Oxytocin levels can be increased through pleasant experiences like listening to relaxing music, receiving hugs, etc.
Robert Galway 20+
Sunny Qureshi
My answer: charlie tod's " The no pants subway ride "