Lack Of Control Leads The Brain To Create Non-existent Patterns
February 7th, 2009 | 
In the way the universe exists, our perception of control and understanding of the things around us and in our environment can lead the brain to creating its own set of rules for finding patterns in completely random events going on around our phsyical existence. Even the most laid back and easy going among us wish to maintain a little control over things, and when we feel lost we scour everywhere for something that will bring order out of chaos. The brain is no less detached from the physical world around us in its desire for order rather than chaos.
A brand new study exposes when we lack restraint we don’t exactly go with the flow, waiting for order to resume, but instead, force it to happen ourselves; we inflict it, if nothing other than solely in our own minds, by imagining patterns and trends where none exist. Over a series of psychological tests, psychologists Whitson of the of Texas at Austin and Galinsky of Northwestern University controlled their subjects’ orientation in reality, if you will. The article can also be found in the Mind section of Scientific American.
Questions arise immediately, how do you control your thoughts in times of doubt or confusion, or what defines the line between order and chaos. The mind is a difficult thing to control and it is very restless. The mind can be brought under control through practicing meditation, even passively, and through dispassion. Many people actively practice yoga or tai chi, both of which are repetitive. Many people actively practice exercise and stretching to keep their minds active. Depending upon how you look at it, these ideas spell out a road map for spiritual growth, regardless of ones religious belief system.
In some of the psychologists trials, the participants were given either random feedback or no feedback at all on a dodgy data intensive chore; in other situations, they asked their willing participants to think of a memory or situation where they lacked control or where they had good control. The results showed that not having command caused participants to mistakenly ascertain a prototype or see a picture in an image of static, to sense contempt in other people’s regular behavior.
Also, individuals actions shows signs of belief in superstitious beliefs and to perceive some sort of weird patterns, on purpose in the data. These anomalies vanished without a trace when the test subjects were dejected but then told to write down their most deeply held beliefs. This opportunity to spell about their nearly profoundly held values represented an activeness that supported psychological well being and rejected despair. This can be explained in simpler terms as the human mind wants to maintain order out of the chaos and remain in control and being under control. See more about this at mind study article and other topics in science and psychology at psychology of the mind
