Tali Sharot

Like for example, their partner is talking to strangers or their partner is on a stage, something unusual.

That's when they feel attracted.

And I think those two cases are cases of dishabituating, right?

Suddenly responding and suddenly noticing what you did maybe 10 years ago, maybe 15 years ago, but you kind of stopped after a while.

But it's not only taking breaks from your life.

It's also taking breaks from things that you would never imagine that you should or would want to take breaks from.

For example, we quote this study that was done where people were asked the following question.

Think about a song that you really like.

And the question is, would you rather hear the song, listen to the song from beginning to end with no interruptions whatsoever?

Or would you rather have breaks throughout the song, right?

20 second, you listen to the song, a break, 20 second break and so on.

So of course, 99% of the people say, I would rather listen to the song uninterrupted, right?

It makes intuitive sense.

But in fact, when they actually test this, they did an experiment.

They have one group of people listen to a song from beginning to end and another group having interruptions.

They found that those people who had breaks, who had the song interrupted, they actually enjoyed the song more overall.

And they were willing to pay double to listen to the song in concert.

And so the reason that the offers of the study suggest is that when you start listening to a song that you really like, you really enjoy it.

But after a while, the joy goes down.

You habituate, right?