In a seminal 2002 study, 3 scientists put 12-month old infants through an experiment
Through a glass window, the infants saw a man enter a room.
In front of the man was a large “something” with a huge button
The man banged his head into the button and lo behold – there was confetti like stuff in front of him
Several men entered, banged their head on the button and the same “magical show” happened
The infants were then introduced into the room
And their natural response was
To bang their head against the button
And then the scientists added a twist
Same setting
Instead, the men entering the room had their hands full – holding bags
And they, yet again, pressed the button with their head
Several men repeated the same
Hands full with bags
Pressed the button with the head
This time now – when the infants entered the room
They surprisingly didnt use their heads to press the button
Instead
They used their hands to press the button :)
Pause for a minute and think about this
And translate this into real life
How often do we see people in repeated action
And begin to believe that its only THAT action which will yield THIS result?
It is only when we see the constraints of those people, do we recognize that our natural response could have also caused the same result
We just didnt try
What people do doesn’t matter
Its why they do it, that does