Expectation v. Reality:Event Hosts Take Notes

This week, I was drawn to the Zoo Study because of its applicability to my own childhood. The children who were told about the logistics of the trip including when to eat, bathroom breaks, et al., were far better suited to actually learn and absorb information from the Zoo environment. I remember taking trips when younger and assuming that I would want to learn a lot beforehand. What I saw though was that holding this information forced an intense focus on specific traits and built up expectations that often were not realized. This class made the environment difficult to understand. On top of this, not knowing about the physical zoo/museum/nature center environment and how the day was organized created an unstable and confused interpretation of my ultimate path. 

I immediately thought about the transition from those elementary years to college and how this same lesson plays out when first arriving. Like the zoo for the first time, college and its events are strange environments that other who have been before can describe to you, but only in their own understanding. Informed strictly by experience, college can seem absolutely amazing or terrible, based on who you ask. These cognitive maps are all unique and individualized to provide that human for the simplest, most clear understanding of their environment. Very quickly, association webs are made for words like "lecture"and "discussion". These very academic and social settings show the power that cognitive maps holds. Our maps are developed very quickly over repeated exposure to these environment and our brain engages many mechanisms which help us predict, quickly recall, and recognize patterns without complete knowledge. 

This same process applies to things like social events in the community. Going to an event for the first time, one wants to know everything about the order, structure, who is hosting it, start and end times. This knowledge builds through hearing about event descriptions from friends or even with the help of "biographical" and "simple" info available through easily understandable technology like Facebook event pages. Knowing this environment before attending an event, one can, like the children they once were going to the zoo, have a better time and be more present rather than uncertain or anxious because the new environment. I have gotten to a point where now simply hearing about a specific type of event, I am able to understand the salient features that will be present. These elements include things such as: estimated size, types of people present, presence or absence of music, food, & drink. When these things are off, it is because I have been conditioned and setup an expectation of what to see. This mismatch between expectation and reality affect enjoyment of the event and more energy is devoted to understanding this lack of familiarity, thereby making the environment uncomfortable. In order for this transition to be more seamless or less uncomfortable, similar events should introduce new concepts within themselves because information is received better in a familiar setting. I believe that this mismatch is what we term creativity and why many hosts may to to unconventional methods to shock and surprise guests. May it be intentional or not, hosts take notes.