I take a look at my desk and I observe a mess. I can find anything quick enough - I have a loose order in what appears to be chaos. I'm very tolerant of mess. I feel comfortable in my messy office. I come home and I rest with ease in my messy apartment. In my messy room, one finds porn tapes in stacks on the top of my tv. Dirty clothes lie in a pile at the side of my bed. A dish and glass from two days ago lie on my dresser - I still have to get that to the kitchen. In the kitchen I find more dishes that need to be put into the dishwasher. At the foot of my bed, there's a large stack of papers that I'll eventually get back to refiling into folders that go into a filing cabinet. I rarely have a problem finding anything dispite appearing to be disorganized. A little lift here, a little lift there...oh, "woops, there it is"
Are you like this (an "Oscar") or are you like (a felix) who has everything super neat at all times? Did you know that there tends to be a systematic difference between people like Oscar and Felix (from the odd couple?). Among other things, they tend to process information in a fundamentally differently way. Messy people (like Oscar) tend tolerate ambiguity (uncertainty) better. Oscars tend to be fluid thinkers who need not "set and idea into stone." For "Oscars," conclusions are drawn tentatively and readily changed or modified with new information. "Oscars" may even enjoy endeavers that involve continuous re-visioning or changing their perspective. They may have a "need for cognition."
"Felixs," by contrast, are motivated to impulsively draw a conclusion and set it in stone - to have a firm answer. They may jump to conclusions and than process information in a biased way to fit the conclusion they already have. In so doing, their view never changes dispite information at variance that goes unnoticed and is unaccounted for. "Felixs" are more likely to use ready made "knowledge constructs" such as stereotypes, heuristics (rules of thumb), and hackneyed language and cliche. Furthermore, "Felixs" tend to be politically conservative whereas "Oscars" tend to be more liberal in their political leanings. "Felixs" tend to live in a more "black and white" world. "Oscars" tend to see the world in distinctions of many shades. All of this comes from a social scientist named Arie Kruglanski who developed a hypothetical construct called "need for closure." In addition to a personality difference, sometimes a situation may make one more like Oscar (a situation, for example, when accuracy is the motive) or more like Felix (a situation, where an impending deadline is looming large).
Something to think about the next time you observe the mess on your (or someone elses) desk.
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Originally Posted by Ih8urdsm
i read 2 sentences
