5 ms·

I’m always skeptical of these types of explanations of human behavior. What is the thought process exactly? Do people think to themselves “Hmm, I need a quirk t

by rp1 5y ago

I’m always skeptical of these types of explanations of human behavior. What is the thought process exactly? Do people think to themselves “Hmm, I need a quirk that makes me different”? I can’t imagine having such a thought. Why things appeal to people is probably much more complex.

katmannthree 5y ago
It's not that they think that and then consciously act on the decision, just that it's the _reason_ they do it. Much like how a certain type of person will very strongly defend their musical preferences with various technical reasons, while discounting that it just happens to be what was popular when they were a teenager.
- rp1 5y ago
  With music, you can both verify that a person liked the music as a teenager, and present that person with other music sharing the same qualities to see if they like it enough. This provides empirical evidence regarding this theory on their musical preferences. Such evidence is missing when trying to understand why someone has a “fake tic”.
  - katmannthree 5y ago
    It sounds like they're developing real tics because of subconscious influences from the tic-tacs, real fake tics which are more or less the same as real real tics just brought on for different reasons. And regarding the music analogy: it's not about the person liking just the music from their formative years, it's that the music they're exposed to during those years has an outsized effect on their preferences going forward. If they pass an intuition check they'll eventually realize the _reason_ why they care so much about the specific technical details they do isn't because that music is inherently and objectively better, and if not then they'll spend the rest of their life complaining about how they just don't make 'em like that anymore.
hn8788 5y ago
It's probably subconcious. It's normal for people to pickup mannerisms of the people around them, so it doesn't seem far fetched for people to pick up fake tics and other behaviors if they spend all day watching videos of people that exhibit those behaviors.
ryandrake 5y ago
As a former teenager (but not girl) I think it's just an attention thing. Teens competing for attention from others isn't new, but now, thanks to the web and Social Media, the competition is world wide and measurable by counting your likes. Which means you need to do sillier and quirkier things to win. It's product differentiation but you are your own product. In the 90s I wore combat boots and a black trench coat. Today I guess it's pretending you have a disease. "LOL, kids" I guess.
Jensson 5y ago
It isn't that hard to imagine. First you do some strange movement on accident, someone says "do you have tics?" because they watched a video about tics, then you try to joke so you say "Yeah!" and do some exaggerated tics. They take you seriously and now think you have tics, and you can't admit it was all a joke so you continue. Then the lie just grows from there until your parents take you to a doctor and it got so big that now you think people would get mad to you if you said you made it all up, so just keep it up.
pugets 5y ago
A lot of teenagers only care about being popular, and will stray from their true selves to achieve popularity. That's why parents always tell their kids "just be yourself," and why kids sometimes respond "it's not a phase, mom, this is who I am."
- Dudeman112 5y ago
  >it's not a phase, mom, this is who I am Even as a kid I always found that a weird one. Surely it doesn't take that long for people to notice that "who you are" changes with time? Specially in modern times when you have contact with so many stories.
chmsky00 5y ago
Mirror neurons. They see everyone else who behaves acting like clown but they’re less socially aware of which clown like behavior they should broadcast. They conflate acting and mockery.
throwaway984393 5y ago
> Do people think to themselves “Hmm, I need a quirk that makes me different”? It's somewhat subconscious. You see someone do something that grabs your attention. You see this person getting attention as a positive.You want the same attention, so you mimic the traits that attract it. And the more people that do it, the more it grows an ingroup that you can feel safe belonging to. And actually these quirks aren't making them different, they're making them the same as other people who use the same quirks. Anyone who has ever seen a goth person and soon after began dressing goth themselves is doing the same thing.
- brabel 5y ago
  > And actually these quirks aren't making them different, they're making them the same as other people who use the same quirks. That's called fashion.
  - TheGoddessInari 5y ago
    A lot of the people doing this treat it as fashion, and what they claim keeps changing from week to week. It's really frustrating as it makes it that much harder for the people with the actual conditions or disorders, who already often have to face pervasive stigma and difficulty.
    - Aditya_Garg 5y ago
      Doesnt their behavior actually lower the stigma? Now it’s more acceptable than ever before to be open about your conditions and disorders
msavab 5y ago
Look up oxytocin, tend and befriend, social status/signalling theory...for just a small dose of what the endocrine system does and why it evolved. We have always played around with and manipulated these pathways in very casual ignorant ways to get whatever our 6 inch chimp brain needs. But the difference today is the speed, scale and complete cluelessness with which the manipulation is happening.
xeromal 5y ago
It's called Munchausens syndrome. Just found an article by the UK NHS but it's just wanting pity or comfort. It's just a mental disorder, but I'm sure during adolescence, you could almost argue that it's a temporal mental disorder that dissipates as you age. It's very similar to latching on to an identity to make yourself special. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/munchausens-syndrome/overview/#:~:text=Munchausen%27s%20syndrome%20is%20a%20psychological,are%20the%20centre%20of%20attention https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/munchausens-synd....
- schleck8 5y ago
  Münchhausen's by Internet specifically
idiotsecant 5y ago
Have you never known someone who came back from a brief trip with a fake 'accent'? (Or even without the trip) I can't imagine being so disconnected from how humans work as to not understand what's up here. People enjoy the attention of other people- it's part of the drive to gain social position. Sometimes they develop pathological behaviour related to this drive. Particularly when self-awareness is low like in most teenagers and some non-neurotypical people.
seoulmetro 5y ago
No. That's exactly how teenagers think. Except the quirk has to be a protected target, i.e. disability.

by rp1 5y ago

katmannthree 5y ago

It's not that they think that and then consciously act on the decision, just that it's the _reason_ they do it. Much like how a certain type of person will very strongly defend their musical preferences with various technical reasons, while discounting that it just happens to be what was popular when they were a teenager.

rp1 5y ago
With music, you can both verify that a person liked the music as a teenager, and present that person with other music sharing the same qualities to see if they like it enough. This provides empirical evidence regarding this theory on their musical preferences. Such evidence is missing when trying to understand why someone has a “fake tic”.
- katmannthree 5y ago
  It sounds like they're developing real tics because of subconscious influences from the tic-tacs, real fake tics which are more or less the same as real real tics just brought on for different reasons. And regarding the music analogy: it's not about the person liking just the music from their formative years, it's that the music they're exposed to during those years has an outsized effect on their preferences going forward. If they pass an intuition check they'll eventually realize the _reason_ why they care so much about the specific technical details they do isn't because that music is inherently and objectively better, and if not then they'll spend the rest of their life complaining about how they just don't make 'em like that anymore.

hn8788 5y ago

It's probably subconcious. It's normal for people to pickup mannerisms of the people around them, so it doesn't seem far fetched for people to pick up fake tics and other behaviors if they spend all day watching videos of people that exhibit those behaviors.

ryandrake 5y ago

As a former teenager (but not girl) I think it's just an attention thing. Teens competing for attention from others isn't new, but now, thanks to the web and Social Media, the competition is world wide and measurable by counting your likes. Which means you need to do sillier and quirkier things to win. It's product differentiation but you are your own product. In the 90s I wore combat boots and a black trench coat. Today I guess it's pretending you have a disease. "LOL, kids" I guess.

Jensson 5y ago

It isn't that hard to imagine. First you do some strange movement on accident, someone says "do you have tics?" because they watched a video about tics, then you try to joke so you say "Yeah!" and do some exaggerated tics. They take you seriously and now think you have tics, and you can't admit it was all a joke so you continue. Then the lie just grows from there until your parents take you to a doctor and it got so big that now you think people would get mad to you if you said you made it all up, so just keep it up.

pugets 5y ago

A lot of teenagers only care about being popular, and will stray from their true selves to achieve popularity. That's why parents always tell their kids "just be yourself," and why kids sometimes respond "it's not a phase, mom, this is who I am."

Dudeman112 5y ago
>it's not a phase, mom, this is who I am Even as a kid I always found that a weird one. Surely it doesn't take that long for people to notice that "who you are" changes with time? Specially in modern times when you have contact with so many stories.

chmsky00 5y ago

Mirror neurons. They see everyone else who behaves acting like clown but they’re less socially aware of which clown like behavior they should broadcast. They conflate acting and mockery.

throwaway984393 5y ago

> Do people think to themselves “Hmm, I need a quirk that makes me different”? It's somewhat subconscious. You see someone do something that grabs your attention. You see this person getting attention as a positive.You want the same attention, so you mimic the traits that attract it. And the more people that do it, the more it grows an ingroup that you can feel safe belonging to. And actually these quirks aren't making them different, they're making them the same as other people who use the same quirks. Anyone who has ever seen a goth person and soon after began dressing goth themselves is doing the same thing.

brabel 5y ago
> And actually these quirks aren't making them different, they're making them the same as other people who use the same quirks. That's called fashion.
- TheGoddessInari 5y ago
  A lot of the people doing this treat it as fashion, and what they claim keeps changing from week to week. It's really frustrating as it makes it that much harder for the people with the actual conditions or disorders, who already often have to face pervasive stigma and difficulty.
  - Aditya_Garg 5y ago
    Doesnt their behavior actually lower the stigma? Now it’s more acceptable than ever before to be open about your conditions and disorders

msavab 5y ago

Look up oxytocin, tend and befriend, social status/signalling theory...for just a small dose of what the endocrine system does and why it evolved. We have always played around with and manipulated these pathways in very casual ignorant ways to get whatever our 6 inch chimp brain needs. But the difference today is the speed, scale and complete cluelessness with which the manipulation is happening.

xeromal 5y ago

It's called Munchausens syndrome. Just found an article by the UK NHS but it's just wanting pity or comfort. It's just a mental disorder, but I'm sure during adolescence, you could almost argue that it's a temporal mental disorder that dissipates as you age. It's very similar to latching on to an identity to make yourself special. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/munchausens-syndrome/overview/#:~:text=Munchausen%27s%20syndrome%20is%20a%20psychological,are%20the%20centre%20of%20attention https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/munchausens-synd....

schleck8 5y ago
Münchhausen's by Internet specifically

idiotsecant 5y ago

Have you never known someone who came back from a brief trip with a fake 'accent'? (Or even without the trip) I can't imagine being so disconnected from how humans work as to not understand what's up here. People enjoy the attention of other people- it's part of the drive to gain social position. Sometimes they develop pathological behaviour related to this drive. Particularly when self-awareness is low like in most teenagers and some non-neurotypical people.

seoulmetro 5y ago

No. That's exactly how teenagers think. Except the quirk has to be a protected target, i.e. disability.