Shy bladder can be overwhelming on a daily basis, but thinking that paruresis may be with you the rest of your life may be enough to send some people back into bed with the covers pulled over their heads. Don’t fret too much about it, as you may simply be suffering from a phenomenon known as the “end of history illusion.”
The what?
Such illusion makes you think you’re not going to change much in the future, and a study published in Science checked it out with more than 19,000 participants ranging in age from 18 to 68. Researchers asked about the people’s favorite hobbies, foods, bands and other preferences along with their personality traits.
Participants reviewed their past 10 years and, as the New York Times reports, the younger set noted more changes than the older participants. But when asked about what the next 10 years may bring, people of all age groups did not foresee many changes ahead.
“Middle-aged people… often look back on our teenage selves with some mixture of amusement and chagrin,” the Times quoted study co-author and Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert. “What we never seem to realize is that our future selves will look back and think the very same thing about us. At every age we think we’re having the last laugh, and at every age we’re wrong.”
Just as your favorite hobbies, foods and bands may change, so may your view of issues that contribute to your paruresis.
Check out the study: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6115/96.abstract?sid=4f348db8-479a-488b-bd24-ea23ebd38112
Read full NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/science/study-in-science-shows-end-of-history-illusion.html
