My research interests

If you haven't already figured, my interest is in what happens when people are in some way caught in two minds.  It can be a strange sensation that we all experience at various moments and it leads to behaviour being directed towards ourselves.  So, chin rubbing or head scratching are the most common manifestations.  Now some people might ask, so what?  Such behaviours are so natural and simple they might wonder, what is there to research?  The reason I think these behaviours are interesting is because they are so close to what we are as human beings that we barely notice them.  They are automatic and occur without conscious intention.  This fact alone reveals something startling: self-grooming reflects our ancient ancestral behaviour patterns.  Scratching or rubbing or stroking ourselves is behaviour so linked to our primate past that these are the actions that we are! It is the fact we overlook these actions because they are so normal that makes them so fascinating when they are highlighted. 

     In terms of research my aim is to better understand the benefits or advantages these kinds of behaviours have for us and in turn this will help explain why we developed them in the first place.  Soothing oneself by touching, rubbing, smoothing, stroking, scratching or pulling actions means that we feel better in some way for doing it than if we didn't do it.  So, rubbing your chin when weighing up the pros and cons of a decision somehow assists in the decision making process by allowing you to tolerate the discomfort of being in two minds about something until you can resolve the dilemna one way or another.  But what would happen if you had to make an important decision that placed you in a dilemna and you couldn't self-soothe (let's say your hands were bound in some way)? Would you make more hurried and less prudent choices as a result?  

     Another behaviour that interests me a lot is when footballers or fans clasp their hands above their heads when a goal has been missed.  Usually it happens when they expect the ball to go into the net but it diverges or swerves away or gets saved at the last moment.  I regularly do it when I watch my team  (West Bromwich Albion) narrowly send a ball over the bar or past the post.  But I don't do it when I can see from the first moment that the ball is not on course for the back of the net.  It requires the expectation of a goal and then the sudden thwarting of this hope to produce the response.  But why?  Why can't I just sigh or groan and let that be enough?  Why do I have to raise my hands to my head and pass my fingers through my hair?  What is that about?  Again, there must be benefits to the behaviour that help reduce the sudden discomfort and stress when two opposing impulses are activated simultaneously or when a cued behaviour (celebration) is suddenly deselected.

     My other interest, hair pulling, is a behaviour that I feel may be a stereotypical action that occurs when tension or stress is prolonged by being in an unnatural situation.  Imagine being caught in two minds about something not just for a few seconds but for hours, days or even years!

     I would like to undertake research into what the benefits of these behavours are to, as I said, find out how they benefit us.  Do they reduce stress or the heart rate?  Do they affect metabolic rate?  What happens if these behaviours are prevented in some way so the discomfort of being in two minds is not relieved?  These are the kinds of questions I would like to answer.  This week I added a paypal button to my site to receive donations to this site.  With any money these are the questions I would aim to research into further.