Are You Easily Distracted?

It is said to be an arena for rehearsing our social skills. Neuroscientist and psychologist estimate that 15 to 50 percent of our waking hours is spent daydreaming. This is time spent away from our focused tasks. When our brain has nothing else to do, our daydreaming kicks in. We go to a whole nother world that reviews what we've already known or done.

Before research, daydreaming was thoughts to be a waste of time, even pathological. Old psychology books, would warn that daydreaming would cause insanity. Today kids are medicated for too much daydreaming, especially in the classroom. "I day dream frequently" was a question that was asked along time ago to recruits joining the army. They wanted to screen out people they thought were neurotic.

Today, there is a great interest in day dreaming. Findings show that it is the mind's default. The opportunity of daydreaming makes it feel excited. It helps us to generate our sense of self. Before the internet, it was the first virtual world. This is a place where we can, make comments to our boss, have love affairs, social situations, and conquer conflicts without real consequences. Albert Einstein's daydreaming helped him to receive a Nobel prize. His theory of relatively was brought about while working at a boring job daydreaming.

Research shows that daydreaming content map everyday goals and aspirations. When we play out our scenarios mentally, we can calm down our anger and find reasonable strategies dealing with bad situations. Daydreaming begins around age two with your make-believe play. Preschoolers talk of their thoughts out loud. As they get older they have to be quiet this starts private daydreaming.

In a study not yet published, Jonathan Schooler psychologist at University of California Santa Barbara and his colleagues asked 122 students to read a children's story online. Once realizing that their minds were wandering, they pressed the M key on a computer. Some were interrupted at random to see if they had wandered. Those who; were aware of their wandering scored higher on a creativity test. Hey were asked to name possible uses for it hangers and toothpicks. These people had longer and more unusual lists. They said that hanger could be used as picture frames , boomerangs, fishing aids, and backscratchers. They said that toothpicks could be used ad anti-smoking aids, art tools , and mini popsicle sticks.

More evidence that daydreaming is crucial is due to an attempt to investigate the "inner experience" of three individuals with Asperger's syndrome. This is a mild condition of autism. Psychologist Russell Hurlburt at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas gave three men with the disorder beepers. They were asked to freeze their thoughts when the beeper sounded. They were unable to comprehend or could only describe objects or images.

sourse: www.psychologytoday.com