Ever wonder...

[sam_gordon]

Do you ever wonder WHY you like the things you like? Yea, yea "it would be a boring world if everyone liked the same thing." That's not the point. WHY do you (general) like some things and not others.

I'm guessing some things can be learned/taught (maybe you like the Atlanta Falcons because your family did). But why do I like pizza and not broccoli. Others LOVE broccoli, not me. Is this taught? Ingrained? If I grew up in a different environment, would I feel the same? Pick anything. I like math and sciences, don't enjoy art or poetry.

I don't have a good answer. I do think some things must be in our DNA, but others are learned. That seems like a cop out to me though.

Strange things I think about...

 

[gmi3804]

I don't get "liking" sports teams in general. Why should I care if one team or another scores more points than another during any given game? I must be missing the part of the human brain that derives pleasure or sense of worth by attaching one's self to a team. What's the point?

 

[soccerdad72]

Some of it might just be exposure to certain things at younger ages.

For example, I have always loved Broadway musicals, but a lot of it stems from having a good friend growing up who was in musical theater, so I went to a lot of his shows and stuff.

As far as sports teams go, some of that is where you grew up and where you live. Of course, you have to be a fan of spectator sports first.

ETA: I have broccoli as well - that just might be genetics

 

[Moliphino]

I have a weird one. My parents both love peanuts, peanut butter, anything peanutty. All of their children (me and 2 sisters) hate everything peanut. No idea how that happened. No allergies, just a complete revulsion of peanuts.
And there's also me, who hates tomatoes, in a family of tomato lovers.

 

[BrianL]

It is interesting. I certainly didn't learn my behaviors as my parents/role models were not so into all of the things I became interested in. I'm sure my dad would ahve preferred I got into sports, but I just never did. The same can be said fo rmy love of Disney. I mean, it was around of course when I was little, but it wasn't the lifestyle that is has become for me, even jost over the past ten years or so. I choose to take my adult vacations to Disney parks - not everyone loves that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It seems like, along the roads of our lives, we have people and things who influence us, intentionally or not. Trying to think of some examples...

Here’s one. I noticed when he was in middle school, that DS started listening to Coldplay. It was initially a bit of a head scratcher for me, until I realized that one of his teachers often played it in the classroom. I liked that for him, and I even remember thinking at the time that it’s good that he’s branching out at this stage and learning different things from different people.

I think there are people and events that influence not only what we like, but what we do, such as with career choices. I was influenced in my own by my mother who herself took care of patients (as her mother did, too).. In turn, my daughter was influenced by me the same way. Perhaps it’s in our makeup that we like that sort of thing and it comes naturally since we’re four generations now. It’s fun for me to now see DD influencing others in the same way, such as a girl she used to babysit wanting to become a nurse (and almost there). The same thing happened with a girl who used to babysit for me, she now works with me. I’ve had patient’s kids visiting and totally bored that I’ve taken around with me a bit to show them what being a nurse is like, and I know that at least one of those kids later became a nurse herself, too. It’s not something that can be forced, either. It’s really just exposure and opportunity.

It’s great when influences can be positive in life. Some can be negative, too.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Nope. Never wondered. Strawberries taste good. Kale tastes repugnant. That's why.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't get "liking" sports teams in general. Why should I care if one team or another scores more points than another during any given game? I must be missing the part of the human brain that derives pleasure or sense of worth by attaching one's self to a team. What's the point?

Thread isn't really about what we (general) like or don't, but the WHY. Ever wonder WHY you don't like sports?

 

[Genie+]

Some combo of nature and nurture I suppose. We may have predispositions and those are either encouraged or discouraged by our experience. Take broccoli, my tastebuds find it sweet while others find it bitter. It might taste good to somebody but they have atrocious memories attached to it, and another might not love the taste but positive nostalgia has them eating seconds.

 

[gmi3804]

Thread isn't really about what we (general) like or don't, but the WHY. Ever wonder WHY you don't like sports?

They hold less than zero interest to me. I don't get excited about watching someone else play a game, and feel that people dressed in logo gear who go crazy when others score points just look like fools to me. The competition element ("We're better than you are because we've hitched our wagons to some team made up of strangers") is totally lost on me: How is YOUR life any better/worse for someone else's victory/loss? I just don't get any of it.

 

[kdonnel]

It is interesting.

In a similar vein I have always wondered how kids raised in the same household can turn out so different in their likes and dislikes.

 

[MICKIMINI]

My grandfather worked at a fine clothing store and was a sketch artist as well. He passed away when I was 5 so I have only a few memories of him. I was artistic as a young child, class artist in 1-8 school and high school and eventually became a successful professional artist. My grandfather didn't have an influence on cultivating my art career so is it DNA?


My 35 yo son as a young child would come along when I taught adult painting and he would often sit at an easel and paint as well. He had a great ability to whip out a painting in an evening much to the chagrin of my adult students (they loved him though!) He did this on his own with no prodding from me and carefully signed his name with the copyright sign on each painting LOL. He is in medicine with lots of initials after his name now...the only family doctor was a great uncle whom he met once and no blood relation. He has/had the art ability but not the desire so is it DNA?

I have often wondered about the nature/nurture conundrum as well!

 

[prairie_girl]

They hold less than zero interest to me. I don't get excited about watching someone else play a game, and feel that people dressed in logo gear who go crazy when others score points just look like fools to me. The competition element ("We're better than you are because we've hitched our wagons to some team made up of strangers") is totally lost on me: How is YOUR life any better/worse for someone else's victory/loss? I just don't get any of it.

Do you have kids?

 

[John VN]

Do you ever wonder WHY you like the things you like? Yea, yea "it would be a boring world if everyone liked the same thing." That's not the point. WHY do you (general) like some things and not others.

I'm guessing some things can be learned/taught (maybe you like the Atlanta Falcons because your family did). But why do I like pizza and not broccoli. Others LOVE broccoli, not me. Is this taught? Ingrained? If I grew up in a different environment, would I feel the same? Pick anything. I like math and sciences, don't enjoy art or poetry.

I don't have a good answer. I do think some things must be in our DNA, but others are learned. That seems like a cop out to me though.

Strange things I think about...

r.e. - bold I did not like broccoli or spinach but liked Spicy Mustard on hot dogs and Honey Mustard dressing on salads then one day I shot some Spicy Mustard on a piece of broccoli and was hooked for life. Put it on spinach and *BAM!!*

Maybe like Mikey --

I figure that the actual plain broccoli and spinach taste was just not what my taste buds were happy with but by adding the mustard it created a copacetic flavor.

 

[fly girl]

One of the many mysteries of life I guess.

I have no doubt some of it is due to exposure and what influenced you growing up. However, there are many things that are individual and learned solo.

For taste, some of that is due to your genetics. Anyone remember in biology class getting the piece of paper to place on your tongue to see if you had the receptors for bitter taste? Some tasted nothing, while others tasted aspirin.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I'm thinking that nature vs. nurture is a good argument for some things I like. My Dad was a huge Flyers fan. Loved them to death. I watched the games with him, and his enthusiasm for the game became mine. I followed the team throughout the 90s and early 2000s religiously. I felt closer to my Dad's memory after he passed in 1987 by keeping up with the team, I guess. Then I slowly fell away after my mother died in 2006. I was in a sort of wilderness of grief, and lost interest in a lot of the things I had previously loved. Some I got back in time, but the Flyers-never.

My sister and I, it's like we've been raised by two different families sometimes. We are almost polar opposites, even though she and I were raised exactly the same and had the same experiences. She went the marriage and kids route, I am not interested in that and never was. She chose a career in offices; I would wither and die in such an environment for my entire life and so chose a career in the arts. She hates most vegetables, I would choose a great salad over a steak.

However, we both love Disney and WDW. It's the one thing that we both feel exactly the same about, and I don't know where it comes from. There was hardly ever any money in my family, so we certainly didn't take trips as kids. I don't recall either of my parents talking Disney at any time. So where does that come from?

Interesting thread, I'm really enjoying it.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

One of the many mysteries of life I guess.

I have no doubt some of it is due to exposure and what influenced you growing up. However, there are many things that are individual and learned solo.

For taste, some of that is due to your genetics. Anyone remember in biology class getting the piece of paper to place on your tongue to see if you had the receptors for bitter taste? Some tasted nothing, while others tasted aspirin.

Yes! I kid you not, I was thinking about that little class experiment just today. Do you remember what those strips were called or specifically what they weretesting? I was one of only two people in the class who couldn’t taste it. I’ve tried to tell this to people through the years and no one ever has any clue what I’m talking about.

 

[Southernmiss]

I agree it's both nature and nurture.

One of my son's is so much like my dad from looks to mannerisms. My dad died when I was 16. For instance, my dad would pick up a baked potato and eat it like an apple. The first time my son did that it was so chilling.

Another son is a Philadelphia Eagles fan. We live in New Orleans Saints country, he likes them, too. But favors the Eagles. He has a cousin that just found the family 6 years ago at age 38 (bil fathered a child as a teen, and the mother's family cut him out of the child's life). That man was a huge Eagles fan, too. But he lived in Oklahoma and had no reason to be an Eagles fan.

The whole topic of why we do what we do is so fascinating.

 

[luvthatduke]

Here ya go:

https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Experiment-Control-Genetic-Testing/dp/B0085GRFSQ

 

[slo]

I believe that many things people love in life are a result of how you were raised and who you surround yourself with.

My love for Disney started with my mom - she’s always loved Mickey Mouse and took me to WDW for the first time in 1976 when I was 5 years old.

My love for art started with my first job that I held for 20 years, which was custom picture framing. Then I opened my own store for 5 years to make 25 years of custom framing all types of artwork

My love for different ethnic food started with my DH at 16 years old. My family never ate at ethnic restaurants and my DH‘s family did, so he started taking me to them and I’ve loved them ever since.

My love for my religion and faith is something I will call my own. I was raised going to church (Lutheran), my DH introduced me to Catholicism (converted before we got married) but my family and DH don’t practice their faith as much as I do (my DH is getting better, which I’m grateful for).

I can go on and on, but those are my top 4 things.