Running Head: Choices, Consequences, and 1

Spontaneity

Choices, Consequences, and Spontaneity.

Blake Briles

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract:
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What is a spontaneous actions? Is spontaneity good or bad? What type of thought process

does one go through before making a spontaneous decision? What makes a spontaneous person

attractive in a social setting? Research from Harvard U. professors, Oxford U. psychologists, and

others in the field of studying spontaneity and what dictates a persons spontaneous decisions, is

used to answer the questions above as well as bring show both sides of the argument as to

whether or not spontaneous decisions are healthy for a person despite the context or atmosphere.

What dictates spontaneous behavior? What is so intriguing about it as a character trait?

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There are many things throughout a person’s life such as childhood events and

experiences that help dictate the way they approach life. As the person grows they take up

different character traits which psychologists have measured and studied for years: how do

childhood experiences effect a person’s character later in life. Specifically, we are looking at one

particular trait that psychologists have not turned much attention to: spontaneity or someone’s

spontaneous nature(or lack of). The act of being spontaneous, or acting on an impulse with little

or no forethought, can speak most about a persons character and how comfortable they are

taking on life in their current stage of development. In today’s society, especially in the college

social aspect, spontaneous individuals are sought after as the atmosphere of college embraces the

upbeat, random, and spastic nature of a spontaneous person. There are also many connections

regarding a persons spontaneous nature and other traits that are significant to society such as

introversion and extraversion, confidence level, and even how hands-on a person is as a friend.

As you may guess there is not an ample amount of information on the relationship

between spontaneity, and life decisions and experiences. But, after some digging the sources that

are available are extremely relevant and helpful regarding the question at hand. Now, in order for

there to be a spontaneous action there must first be a thought of the action and the cognitive

process begins. Michael I. Norton, a professor at the Harvard Business School having taught

classes in Business Psych, stated “People believe their thoughts to be the primary driver of their

behaviors”(Norton) in a prep essay attached to five individual studies. He goes on to explain the

level at which we hold our thoughts accountable for our spontaneous actions whether they be

positive or negative. Norton then continues to give insight into spontaneous thought and how “a

variety of clinical, cognitive, and social psychological methods” are what elicit spontaneous

thought. As many believe spontaneous thoughts are how quickly someone would just pick up
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their life and go travel the world, if this were so it would be practically impossible to study

spontaneous thought. Spontaneous thoughts are quite simple and everyone has at least one very

day.

Norton conducted a study(Study 3 of Norton’s article) of one-hundred ninety-eight

Americans in hope of finding a pattern in spontaneous thought through one of the most important

values in the business world, first impressions. Throughout the study participants were asked a

single questions about four different individuals pictured in front of them. The study consisted of

two groups(89 participants each) a “deliberate thought” group which was asked the question

“Logically, what is a good way to describe the person below?” and a “spontaneous thought”

group which were asked “What is the very first word that comes to mind when you think about

how to describe the person below?”. Concluding the study, the “deliberate thought” group was

the control in this instance considering Norton used them to obtain a logical response as to who

the people in the images were from a reasonable and thought out point of view while those asked

for a spontaneous response gave it quickly without much forethought. The answers given by the

spontaneous group were more truthful as to what the participant truly felt toward the person in

the picture and there was a correlation to how the participants answered and the way they were

raised, their political views, and their background. (Norton) After Norton’s research hit other

psychologists that were interested in the field another study gave two different ways to measure

spontaneity: a Spontaneity Assessment Inventory in which respondents are asked to indicate the

intensity of the feeling of spontaneity they experience during a typical day or a specially worded

version of the Spontaneity Assessment Inventory-Revised: respondents were asked to indicate

the frequency with which they experienced spontaneity during a typical day.(Kipper/Buras)
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However, in order to better understand an act one must not only study how it is measured

but it’s importance to the processes in the mind and how it relates to the realities of the world(i.e.

Spontaneity vs. Reality). Two journalists for online psych magazines “Good Choices. Good

Life.” regarding tips on how thinking through decisions can lead to a better life and “The Human

Fable” centered more towards the human thought process both have differing views on the

importance of spontaneity in one’s daily routine. Sean Parshad opens the latter article with

“Friends come and go, but spontaneity will last a lifetime, conferring many benefits along the

way.”(Parshad) while Meghan Hogan of the former article writes “…but on the whole, acting

before thinking can destroy your chances for achieving your long-term goals in life.”(Hogan)

These two viewpoints both hold valid arguments as to why spontaneous actions can be good and

bad. While an impulsive decision to rob a bank(as mentioned in Hogan’s article) could have

major consequences while a spontaneous decision to kiss that girl(or guy) you really like might

turn out to completely change your life in a positive way. Spontaneous actions whether they are

good or bad can help someone better understand their way of thinking and how they would react

in certain situations.

Spontaneous actions and thoughts, as put by Hogan, are a reflection of what we want in

that particular moment whether it is flying around the world, running away, throwing a rock

through a window, etc. these actions would put long-term goals at risk. Meanwhile, Parshad

argues that spontaneous actions can actually make the best life experiences that one could have

whether it’s travel based or economically based. David Kaplan, a writer and software developer,

writes about spontaneous actions against planning in a business setting. “Businesses fail every

year because they do not adjust their plan to new events and lessons learned.”(Kaplan) stating

this Kaplan is referring to the rigid goals that businesses set in stone by which they are unable to
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fluctuate meaning if the company doesn't meet that goal then they go under. This being the case,

when a business makes a plan they must account for changes or have a buffer. This being said

some people may be under the impression “well, why plan at all if it’s all going to go down the

drain anyway?” the answer lies here “Don't overestimate your understanding of the environment

and your ability to predict future events.”(Kaplan) Instead of looking at extreme long-term plans

establish shorter less difficult goals and “don’t wing it”(Kaplan).

Now that the way of measuring spontaneous action, what clarifies spontaneous behavior,

the good it shows, the bad it brings, and the economic balance it can hold, why is a person who is

spontaneous, on average, more outgoing and sociable than someone who isn’t? Why do

spontaneous people attract more attention than others? Confidence.(Overwalle) A study

conducted at Oxford U. concluded that one of the most sociable traits that people appreciate in a

social setting is confidence and spontaneous individuals, whether they have positive or negative

spontaneous actions/thoughts, are seen as more personable and easier to get along with. Through

out the study participants are also asked about events that happened growing up and what

happened after they made a spontaneous decision in their youth over 60 percent of the students

who were surveyed to have a positive reinforcement after a childhood spontaneous act tested as

an extravert and reported having an easier time making friends when they are in a social

environment while students who were discouraged from spontaneous activities tested more as

introverts and reported having trouble making friends throughout their college experience. This

being said the more positive outcomes that a child has with spontaneous actions will dictate how

often or how extreme they make spontaneous decisions later in life both on a social and

economic scale
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In conclusion, spontaneous actions and thoughts can have positive and negative outcomes

and they can be as big or as small as said actions or thoughts. The psychological process that

takes place to encourage or discourage spontaneous decisions later in life is positive or negative

reinforcement and depending on which of these is presented to a child it will help dictate the

level of spontaneity they show later in life. The most intriguing aspect of a spontaneous

individual is their confidence in a social environment and their ability to be open-minded and

creative in a business setting; this is sought after by business and looked for in interviews and

many persons with these qualities bring a certain level of enthusiasm to a work space. A persons

level of spontaneity is influenced by their childhood while the confidence of a spontaneous

individual can grab the attention of even the toughest crowd. People crave risk and spontaneous

humans are at the peak of the risk takers. (1503)

Reflection:

To be completely honest I was going to switch questions a few weeks ago before I did

my research review but after seeing that there were a number of studies on spontaneity and the

way people interact with spontaneous decisions throughout their lives. It was extremely

intriguing and therefore I decided to keep my question. As a freshman here at UNCC this is my

first real writing intensive course and therefore this is the longest paper I’ve had to write thus far
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in my schooling career. When I first heard that 1500 words was the equivalent of almost 5 pages

I freaked out a little on the inside and normally when that happens I just push whatever freaked

me out aside and move on throughout my day but the question I had kept pressing in my mind

which was just weird for me. That being said I couldn't take my mind off of it.

Ever since the class where we first wrote down our questions I have constantly been

thinking every time one of my friends asks to make a spontaneous late-night cookout run or

helps someone pick up their dropped books I thought back to this question and all the factors that

played into that spontaneous actions. So all in all I would just like to thank you for assigning this

paper(I don't think I have ever thanked an instructor for a paper assignment) and I know that

sounds dumb but this is one of the only papers I have actually enjoyed researching and writing. I

took a psychology class last semester which helped with some of the jargon in some of the psych

articles and that just furthered my interest in the topic. Anyways, thanks again for this amazing

assignment. I hope the rest of my writing intensives are like this one. :) (306)

Bibliography:

Kestemont, J., Vandekerckhove, M., Ma, N., Van Hoeck, N., & Van Overwalle, F. (2013).

Situation and person attributions under spontaneous and intentional instructions: an fMRI

study. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8(5), 481–493.

http://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss022

Diffley, Anna. “The Importance Of Spontaneity.” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017,

www.theodysseyonline.com/why-you-should-be-spontaneous.
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Hogan, Meghan. “THE DANGERS OF IMPULSIVE DECISION MAKING.” Good Choices

Good Life, 2014, www.goodchoicesgoodlife.org/choices-for-real-life-real-living/the-

dangers-of-impulsive-decision-making/.

Parshad, Sean. “Spontaneity Is Your Friend – Be Yourself.” Be Yourself, Be Yourself, 15 Sept.

2015, byrslf.co/spontaneity-is-your-friend-e11fe5c33762.

Michael I. Norton-Harvard U. Dept. of Marketing, The (Perceived) Meaning of Spontaneous

Thoughts (2014)

Kaplan, David. “The Balance of Planning and Spontaneity – Life Hack: Your Story, Experience,

Etc – Medium.” Medium, Life Hack: Your Story, Experience, Etc, 24 Aug. 2015,

medium.com/tell-me-your-story-and-experience/the-balance-of-planning-and-spontaneity-

9d241fec70a4.