Current Event Posting #1

Kimberly
Science
What's New? Exuberance for Novelty Has Benefits
By: John Tierney
The New York Times
Published: February 13, 2012
1 page


Main Ideas:
Ms. Gallagher states that searching for novelty is a large part of human survival. This is because it helps us as humans, learn to cope with migration, and adapting to a new environment. Dr. Cloninger says that there must be a balance between this need for novelty, and the personal characteristics someone has in order to be successful. Sometimes without the assistance of certain characteristics, it can cause antisocial behavior in someone, or even attention deficit disorder.  Ms. Gallagher believes that all humans are neophiliacs, but to different degrees, and differ the regulation of dopamine, and these reactions have been linked to fast reaction times, and higher risk takers. The tendency for novelty seeking depends mostly on someone's upbringing, the local culture, and their stage of life. The urge for novelty drops by half between the ages of 20 and 60. This contributes to how much risk a person is willing to take, to change their future for the better. This new perspective can also be found in disorganized people who only do wishful thinking, hoping things will get better, but never taking any action.

Conclusion:
Although all people are neophiliacs, only some of them are successful, while others are not, and this is because of their balance of other characteristics. To achieve this balance, people must learn to what degree their novelty seeking personality is at, and understand how to counteract it in a way that will make it productive. Some of the characteristics that may change novelty seeking to a more adequate trait would be perseverance,  strong will, regulated impulses, etc, etc. Basically to make yourself a success, you must take control of your life, and understand how to make yourself a success. You are the bearer of both good and bad news, and your life is controlled by you. Don't let your life control you.