Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected

Book Notes
  • Surprise elicits a spike in the brain wave called the P300, which hijacks our cognitive resources and pulls our attention onto the object of surprise (1) – page 6 1
  • Whether a surprise is positive or negative, it is exhausting for our brains… surprise creates a cognitive burden (2) – page 12 1
  • We share 90 percent of our emotional experiences with others (3) – page 12 1
  • The more surprising something is, the sooner and more frequently we share it with others (4) – page 13 1
  • Individuals carrying “heavy” secrets thought the hill was steeper and harder to climb than the control group (5) – page 13 1
  • Curiosity is even more important to quality of life than happiness… Curiosity is stimulating, enjoyable, and the fuel that leads to learning, creativity, and innovation (6) – page 14 1
  • News of unpleasant surprises spreads faster and leaves a greater impact than pleasant news (7) – page 15 1
  • Boredom is correlated with depression, drug abuse, gambling, aggression, relationship dissatisfaction, and academic failure (8) – page 24 2
  • Boredom isn’t merely unpleasant, it is dangerous to our health, our relationships, and maybe even society (9) – page 32 2
  • Resilient individuals are happier and healthier (10) – page 46 3
  • When participants saw only the scary images of aggressive dogs, crying children, and dentists drilling, their brains reacted with fair.  When the same images were paired with neutral or positive explanations, such as “This dog is very brave for protecting a little girl”, it was as though their brains seen a totally different set of pictures (11) – page 53 3
  • After experiencing a wide range of traumas, individuals report feeling closer to others, having more appreciation for life, and discovering opportunities to take their lives in new directions (12) – page 59 3
  • Most people prefer to select a marble from a jar with known odds than unknown odds, even though there is no statistical advantage or disadvantage.  Studies reveal that the amygdala is activated when it spots the mysterious jar (13) – page 71 4
  • Adding observers to the room increases participants’ aversion to the unknown.  Fear of negative evaluation by others triggers a sense of vulnerability and sends people reaching for the known jar even more (14) – page 71 4
  • When participants were asked to tell observers which prize they wanted to win, they chose the mystery deck only 35 percent of the time… when they kept their preference private, they selected the mystery deck 67 percent of the time (15) – page 71 4
  • We process uncertainty much like we process surprise… The P300 wave that hijacks our mental resources when we’re surprised has a part time-job in the uncertainty department (16) – page 81 5
  • When we try to predict positive events, we limit the pleasure we would have experienced from the vent if we allowed it to surprise us (17) – page 83 5
  • S 92 5
  • Tolerance for ambiguity is correlated with positive risk taking and life satisfaction (18) – page 93 8
  • S 110-111 9
  • The moments of music that have attention gripping and chill producing effects have two things in common: an increase in volume and a sudden shift from a solo instrument to the orchestra (19) – page 124 7
  • Very satisfied guests were only 24 percent more likely than merely satisfied quests to stay at the hotel again and recommend it to others… guests who reported experiencing a delightful surprise were 58 percent more likely to repurchase and recommend than satisfied guests… 97 percent of guests who experienced a delightful surprise became loyal to the hotel (20) – page 137 8
  • Delightful surprise inspires individuals to talk about their experiences with an average of six listeners (21) – page 137 8
  • Events above the expectation bar release dopamine in the brain and evens below the bar diminish dopamine (22) – page 139 8
  • There’s a difference between liking and wanting.  When animal and human research subjects are treated with drugs that block or deplete dopamine, they still seem to experience pleasure but not desire (23) – page 139 8
  • Students randomly received a dollar… Those who received the mysterious cards were in a better mood than students who were given an explanation for why they received the present (24) – page 147 8
  • The happiest couples have a habit of reminiscing about their shared past experiences and laughing about them together (25) – page 157 9
  • Novel stimuli capture attention more than familiar and even preferred stimuli… the brain processes novel information in a different way, activating the midbrain and stimulating dopamine (26) -page 193 11
  • People who read “wonder” phrases about the film liked the film more and experienced more positive emotion (27) – page 196 11

 

  1. Surprise!  Surprise?, A model-based approach to trial by trial p300 amplitude fluctuations
  2. Customer satisfaction and its consequences on customer behaviour revisited the impact of different levels of satisfaction on word of mouth feedback to supplier and loyalty
  3. Beyond the emotional event: six studies on the social sharing of emotions
  4. Long lasting cognitive and social consequences of emotion social sharing and rumination
  5. The physical burdens of secrecy
  6. Curiosity and pathways to well being and meaning in life traits states and everyday behaviors
  7. Customer satisfaction and its consequences on customer behavior revisited
  8. The phenomenon of boredom, Marital boredom now predicts less satisfaction 9 years later, Boredom and academic achievement testing a model of reciprocal causation
  9. Effects of boredom on self-reported health
  10. The relationship between cognitive hardiness explanatory style and depression happiness in post retirement men and women, Stressful life events personality and health an inquiry into hardiness
  11. The late positive potential a neurophysiological marker for emotion regulation in children
  12. Posttraumatic growth:  conceptual foundations and empirical evidence
  13. Neural systems responding to degrees of uncertainty in human decision making
  14. Social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation and the detection of negative emotion in in others
  15. Causes of ambiguity aversion:  known versus unknown preferences
  16. Suspense and surprise on the relationship between expectancies and p3
  17. Explaining away a model of affective adaptation
  18. S 92 5
  19. Tolerance of ambiguity: a review of the recent literature
  20. S 110-111 9
  21. Physiological and music acoustic correlates of the chill response
  22. The customer delight construct is surprise essential
  23. Beyond the emotional event six studies on the social sharing of emotions
  24. Responses of monkey dopamine neurons to reward and conditioned stimuli during successive steps of learning a delayed response task
  25. The debate over dopamine’s role in reward the case for incentive salience
  26. The pleasures of uncertainty prolonging positive moods in ways people do not anticipate
  27. The effect of reminiscing about laughter on relationship satisfaction
  28. Absolute coding of stimulus novelty in the human substantia nigra vta
  29. The feeling of uncertainty intensifies affective reactions