Member-only story
The Nuance
‘Psychological Richness’ May Be the Missing Piece in Your Life’s Puzzle
Novel, complex, and perspective-changing experiences are undervalued parts of a satisfying life
Imagine that you’re stuck in a room by yourself, and your only entertainment is a short movie clip — played over and over again.
That was the setup for a 2015 study led by researchers in the Netherlands. For one hour, people in the study sat alone at a table and watched the same 85-second movie segment, ad nauseam. Not surprisingly, as time passed they grew bored and then frustrated.
That wasn’t all. Each person was fitted with electrodes. As they watched the clip, they had the ability to self-administer electric shocks of varying strengths — from mild to painful. By the end of the hour, the people in the study had shocked themselves an average of 22 times, and the shocks had grown increasingly intense.
The philosopher Blaise Pascal famously observed that “all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.” The fact that many of us may prefer electric shocks to monotony underscores the truth of Pascal’s statement. There’s something in our programming — Pascal called it a “secret instinct” —…
