Prevalence induced concept change
Chapter or Section: Explore the Edge
Prevalence-induced concept change refers to the tendency for people to expand their understanding of a concept when the frequency of its instances decreases. This means that as something becomes less common, people might redefine it to include things that they previously didn’t consider part of it.
Here’s a more detailed explanation:
Mental illness: If the perceived prevalence of certain mental health symptoms decreases, people might broaden their concept of mental illness to include more symptoms.
The Phenomenon:When something (a concept, a problem, a category) becomes less prevalent, people’s understanding of it can change, often expanding to include more things.
Examples:
Color perception: If blue dots become rare, people might start calling purple dots “blue”.
Ethics judgments: If unethical requests become rare, people might start seeing innocuous requests as unethical.
- Why it happens:The exact mechanism is still being studied, but one theory suggests it’s due to a kind of “range-frequency compromise” where people compare the current stimulus to recent stimuli.
- Consequences:This phenomenon can have significant social consequences because many real-world tasks require consistent judgments over time. If judgments change based on prevalence, it can lead to problems like misidentifying problems as intractable or overreacting to changes in prevalence.
In essence, prevalence-induced concept change highlights how our understanding of things can shift based on how frequently we encounter them, even when we are aware of the phenomenon.
A difficult takeaway here is that humans , as comfort expands, simply lower the threshold for what we consider a problem. The study (click here) describes multiple examples and try to display their research to demonstrate this phenomenon. I find it interesting that many people surrender their control of choice for comfort. It occurs in such a nuanced way, many just aren’t plugged-in enough to realize that is what they have subtly done. As the world becomes better our problems often become more hollow.
A fascinating question that a participant in Easter’s audiobook experimented with is asking people to describe excitement and anxiety. What he shared is many asked with that couldn’t parse and distinguish the difference. When I asked my almost 10 y/o daughter the same question last night – she offered – one makes me happy and the other makes me sad. knowing the difference seems to have meaning here – so I am beginning to experiment with this with my kiddo as she often ‘freezes’ in her worry and anxiety. If we can recalibrate and shape and help her encounter this better over time with meaning – my hope is she can frame things better for her over a lifetime – A tool I didn’t much need for me, but one that I wish I can tune in better as well. To simplify the exercising of this with clarity and recognition, she will have the capacity to deepen her well far earlier than I ever did.
Some thoughts: Deepening the well
When I did my California Ironman in 2023 one of the biggest lessons learned in retrospect, was interacting with my own personal depths of my well. One thing I encounter often is a deep disparity in my efforts – and those of others. Yes, I know comparison is a thief of joy, but it’s a reality of my observations and life experience. I don’t barrell down that rabbit hole like I used to, but I have gathered so much information in my observations that it comes to bear at times. My lesson learned for me tho, is it is MY choice when I decide to see how deep my well is, and the comfort and discomfort I encounter when I do. Liz and I often talk about – “we only know swimming in deep waters”. I suppose this is good because we have too many lessons learned and know how to exercise that muscle. While we do enjoy our intersections with COMFORT, much like happiness and how I perceive and recognize that one’s relationship with happiness is ‘quid pro quo’ meaning it always wants more – comfort is similar but its fruit tends to spoil over time – refer to the “prevalence induced concept change” notions above.
I also find that comfort and one of its fruits is variety. Variety often masks itself as the notion of freedom. This improperly calibrated version of freedom – especially masked in comfort, often becomes spoiled by misframing problems and not swimming in the depths of one’s well. Like with any exercise – lack of use most often yields atrophy. If it isn’t used it becomes lost or its value is highly reduced. THis is where the effort struggles are often lost, comfort doesn’t require effort at its outcome. Sure, to get there – I’d like to believe it required effort. After it’s acquired tho – and that has been a bit of my challenge after and injury and having completed a 140.6 mile Ironman. While the physical and mental efforts were deep and difficult and burdensome, the outcomes and fruit of deepening my well and hardening it with resilience and many more personal to me and my family – I have been coasting in comfort.
Recognising those things for me often takes time. Sometimes I am hyper aware. Other times – it isn’t until discomfort appears – most often outside of my control – that is when recognition and the desire to recalibrate is recultivated. True, I have needed a season of personal, physical and mental space for recovery – more so rest. I guess all that to say is I can feel the embers starting to rekindle. Not too sure what that means yet or where it may go, but that’s where my excitement comes.
However, Liz has a few events, Drop 13, the Cache Valley Gran Fondo and then the half marathon in St. George. I am supporting her in those efforts with our little family and we will see here through those accomplishments!
Here we go!
