Thursday 21 February 2013

Technology and Evolution



The Internet offers us an abundance of options when selecting everything from bicycles to mates that is unprecedented in human history. Although we may think that the extra options are good, new research has shown that we may be more satisfied when choosing from fewer options – and we may not even be cognitively equipped to correct this misconception. Throughout most of human history, we’ve had significantly fewer options for choosing a mate, and so we would strongly welcome any additional options when they came along.

For instance, when our neocortex was developing, in part to deal with social networks, the average human group consisted of roughly 150 individuals. Healthy group members of reproductive age of the opposite sex would total about 35 – slim pickings, by the Internet’s standards. Because we developed in this kind of social environment, we have a tendency to desire ever more options. That’s why, for example, people are enticed by dating Web site Match. Com’s offer of “millions of possibilities.” 

But, as a team of researchers has shown in a recent study, this abundance of options may not make the chooser feel or choose any better than a pool of just a half dozen or so options. Psychologist Alison Lenton from the University of Edinburgh, Barbara Fasolo from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and cognitive scientist Peter Todd from Indiana University have presented their findings on this subject in a recent issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. As the researchers explain, people tend to anticipate that they’ll feel better about “shopping for a mate” when there is a large number of options. However, in actuality, people feel equally good when faced with few as opposed to many options. The scientists performed two experiments demonstrating this clash between anticipation and experience.

5 comments:

  1. As an Australian internet service provider user, I can say that technology have been the core of almost every businesses nowadays.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Employing software testing methods can have its disadvantages. For one, it can cause undesirable delays in releasing a newly developed software. Despite this, however, software testing is still employed by most software developing companies. Aside from the fact that software testing is part of the standard protocols in software development strategy that should be observed, there are a number of benefits that can outweigh the delays that can be caused by software testing. Source

    ReplyDelete
  3. Say the words "technology management", and some people have a look of puzzlement on their faces - they have no idea what the term means. Basically, technology management follows the same course as other strategies applied in the workplace in order to further the success and sustainability of a company or organization: Planning, organizing, staffing, implementing and monitoring/evaluation. The one difference is that in technology management, you add the "technology" factor to the mix. mobile tracker

    ReplyDelete
  4. The field of education is constantly changing and growing with technology. In this digital era, children grow up with computers from the time they are very young. In order to reach these children, educators need to adapt to technology in education and learn how to teach students using technological tools. best xmind competitor

    ReplyDelete
  5. If you are looking for a cost effective means of monitoring your spouse, a Global Positioning System (GPS) vehicle tracking system is a good start. GPS vehicle tracking is an excellent means for gaining intelligence on the movements of your spouse and with this system a private Investigator will be able to track 24 hrs a day and provide highly detailed reports of times, routes and locations. vehicle check

    ReplyDelete