Why Do You Run?

I went on a run today, and I did my usual routine of listening to music from my Endorphins playlist in my iPod. Unfortunately, in the process of  trying to speed up to a sprint, I accidentally pulled my earphones and lost one of their removable rubber plugs along the Acad Oval. Aside from the annoying idea of losing something in my typical(ly clumsy) way, I was confronted with the thought that I had only my thoughts to occupy me during another round at the oval.

At first, I attempted to map out my analysis for my thesis while running, but quickly realized that thinking about something so taxing while doing a physically demanding task would lead nowhere. I'd probably stop dead in my tracks, or be unable to stitch any proper thoughts about this totally unrelated domain. Thankfully, it was the latter, so I managed to finish my two-oval goal for the day. I gave up on that attempt to get my thesis going while I was on the go, and just let my thoughts drift. Somewhere between the UP Theater and the College of Music, when I was starting to get tired, it went towards thinking about my present task of running. So I asked myself, "Why do you run?" (Yes, the question was really in second person, if you're wondering.) And as my muscles and joints began to ache, and my breath became more labored, I tried to come up with an answer to that question. Soon enough I found two: I run because I like knowing that I can reach my difficult goal (of course, that difficulty is relative to my own abilities). I run because I like the feeling myself get stronger.

In coming up with these answers, I eventually began to think about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. In the former, we engage in certain activities because we're out to get external rewards. This was initially the case for me and my fitness activities this past month. I ran/did futsal/yoga/Nike Training Club because I wanted to fit into my sisters' clothes and get my siblings to stop making fun of me for being the only one with more than 10% body fat among them. But a month into pursuing these goals, even if these activities caused me so much pain and discomfort, I found myself enjoying them and deriving pleasure from witnessing my own progress. In short, my motivations became intrinsic. I do the activities for their own sake, even if they certainly do not make my life easier in the short-term.

Taken from http://determineduncensored.com/tag/truths/

Thinking about that, I came to realize that we humans are quite a strange bunch. We willingly subject ourselves to activities that may sometimes bring excruciating pain (e.g., exercise and graduate studies), while our intuitions tell us that we are being ridiculous and masochistic, and the easy way is usually the best way. True, we are more likely to succumb to these shortcuts and settle for the minimum requirement, but we are also capable of pushing ourselves to our very limits just because we crave that challenge. When people do decide to take on the more arduous route, we usually find the best of what humanity has to offer.

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P.S. I am not claiming to be an avid nor a regular runner. I'm still in the earlier part of the process of really, truly falling in love with sports and exercise.

Connect the Dots

Most human phenomena are extremely complex. Psychology may try to attach names to these, and operationalize different constructs, but psychological research merely provides us with a partial picture of possible relationships among variables. Good research reporting, after all, entails emphasizing that results are by no means conclusive about the how phenomena come about on a general scale, as the research was conducted within a certain context and among particular participants who might share certain characteristics. Occasionally, this research is reported in more reader-friendly formats, and we get titles like, "Does studying science make you a better person?" that may lead people to jump to sweeping generalizations about the group of people concerned. Thankfully, such articles still report how the research was conducted, and critical readers will get the chance to make conclusions for themselves based on the findings and the methodology.

Most unfortunate though, is the propagation of misinformation in popular media, where conclusions are not always founded on scientific evidence or even logical thinking. The past month has given us two very concrete examples of this, in the issues of homophobic parenting and the tragic UP Manila suicide. Yes, I know this is a little late, but it took a while for me to synthesize these events that gained much media coverage. What these two have in common is irresponsible journalism and the human tendency to jump to conclusions. I'd like to focus a little more on the latter.

One proposition comes from the Gestalt psychologists, the guys (yes, most, if not all of them are guys) with whom we associate with the cliche, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." These psychologists were particularly bent on talking about how our minds organize information, and they proposed certain patterns with which we do so. One law that they came up with was the Law of Pragnanz, which basically says that humans have a tendency to stick to the simplest, most concise, symmetrical and complete explanations for our experiences (Ormrod, 2012).

The Law of Pragnanz: We see five circles instead of a series of complicated shapes. Simple, concise, symmetrical. 

Image from http://blog.ocad.ca/wordpress/gdes1b26-fw2009-01/?cat=227

Another possible explanation comes from Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman (2010), who wrote the book Thinking, Fast and Slow to discuss how our minds work within two systems: the instinctive and emotional System 1, and the rational and deliberate System 2. Because we were designed for efficiency, System 1 often takes charge of the initial information processing, unless we believe it to warrant greater analysis and interpretation. Unfortunately, in this day and age where we are bombarded with so much information, we choose to take mental shortcuts because it's just so much faster and there's just too much to process.

So with these human tendencies for simplicity and efficiency, we have quick conclusions that the environment (i.e., child-rearing methods) can "correct" any gay tendencies, and a forced leave of absence can cause a suicide. In the process, we fail to recognize that there are so many more layers in between, that human phenomena result from the complex interplay of variables. A one-to-one correspondence of cause and effect is rarely the case.

Sources:

Kahneman, D. (2010). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Ormrod, J.E. (2012). Human Learning (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

2012

2012 was a year of chasing dreams.

Dreams of becoming a teacher...

...and a real academic.

I met some pretty awesome people along the way too.

I also watched people I love chase their own dreams.

In between, I experienced new things,

revisited my childhood,

 

and saw new sights from nearer

 

and farther places.

 

Of course, seeing the world is a lot more awesome with friends,

family,

   

and my personal cheeseballs photographer.

2012 also had its share of goodbyes (and my, did I cry).

 

But it was also filled with love and new beginnings.

 

The love of friends who will always, always be there through the best and worst points of my life.

 

The love of a crazy, clingy family

that learns to overcome challenges and differences.

And of course, the love of this curious koala...

 

who has joined me for this wonderful ride.

So thank you, 2012. I am now ready to jump,

and finish what I've started

so I can play a greater role in the bigger picture.

Crosspost: Some things from Philippine Fashion Week.

MOA Arena cleans up good. At the Lesley Mobo Gala, Cibo catered the black tie event with hors d'oeuvres and free flowing champagne, sangria and vodka. How could you go wrong? As the guests went to their pre-assigned chairs, the photographers scrambled to look for a spot to shoot. Alas, there were none. We looked for chairs to prop ourselves up, or some just settled at an obscure corner just to appease the floor directors and video crane operators. I used my 200 mm f/2.8 lens and I found it difficult to get a proper exposure because of the lousy lighting done. Too many blank spots and colored lights. Why is it too hard to get some plain white light in Philippine events? And why are photographers just shoved into an area and treated like second class citizens? All we ask for are good light and a spot to take advantage of it. It's always important for events to have an area for photographers. Always. But I'll stop griping for now. I had a terrific time sitting beside renowned designer Jerry Katigbak during the Mens' Wear collection presentation. He was commenting on how slow some of the shows went, how he would want to hear an applause at some point. I didn't know he was a student of photography. He also asked for some advice regarding how to correct his white balance. He had some decent photos from a photo shoot and asked me how to make his shots better. I hope I gave some valuable insight. PS: a polka-dot man purse. why. Honestly, there were times when the models looked so similar to each other. I couldn't differentiate them when they were walking. Only did I realize they looked different when I looked at my shots with my computer. What I enjoyed shooting the most were some womens' collection. Sure it was late at night, but the designs and looks looked great. And thankfully, while I was there, no models tripped and fell over.