On October 23, another notable event took place in the life of the British royal family – the christening of the three-month-old Prince George, the son of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the future heir to the throne. This news spread around most of the media and collected a variety of comments from people from all over the world. What is the reason for our violent reaction to such events? Psychologies experts share their opinion.
Psychologies: Why do we rejoice in events that have nothing to do with us? For example, the christening of Prince George …
Stanislav Raevsky Stanislav Raevsky We evolved as collective beings, our emotions are built to be infected by the emotions of the collective. In this sense, it is natural to respond to the appearance of another child in our large human tribe. We can mentally take the place of happy parents and rejoice for them.
As a rule, under publications about the christening of the prince, not only friendly comments appear, but also remarks like “Well, what are you happy about? Found a reason.”
On the one hand, such a reaction is a symptom of the emotional distress of the commentators themselves. On the other hand, they quite rightly notice that there are different reasons for joy, including much more serious ones. A good example is given in the book “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: all Lebanese were worried about a child who fell into a well in Italy, while in the same Lebanon many people died, including children. Weird? Yes, but that’s how humans are. Our attention is often drawn to those events that will definitely affect us. Let’s say it’s natural to be upset by the defeat of our national football team. Although, in general, what’s the difference – she won or not? But solutions to important environmental problems, new ways of treating cancer and other serious achievements do not excite us so much. Some of us find it frustrating that people rejoice over small things instead of thinking about saving the lives of millions. Let’s say the solution of the conflict in Syria is a serious reason for joy, and instead we rejoice at the wedding and christening in the royal family.
But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be happy, does it?
Of course, because these are simple human joys that will always be relevant. Traditionally, the whole village was invited to the wedding. Today, the number of our world village has increased to several billion, the borders have expanded – so you and I are invited to this event through the screen. Of course, it would be optimal if joyful events in the lives of those close to us evoke the same sharp reaction. But we do not interact well with each other, and a substitution turns out: instead of experiencing the same emotions for a wedding or christening in a neighbor’s family, we feel them for English princes and princesses.
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Psychologies: How can we explain our joy for a completely alien royal family?
Larisa Harlanova Larisa Harlanova I think the whole point is that our psyche is very “old” – of course, I mean the collective psyche and what is called . In anticipation of events such as the birth and baptism of an infant in the royal family, we find ourselves under the influence of the archetype of the Divine child. Suffice it to recall fairy tales: the absence of children in the royal family, the infertility of the royal couple is a serious problem and threat to the entire kingdom. Many fairy tales begin with this misfortune and, as a rule, end with the happy birth of an heir. We are interested in the news about the birth of not just a certain baby, but a baby in the royal family. Symbolically, we need confirmation that the kingdom will develop, that life goes on. And at this moment, it doesn’t matter to us at all where this happens, and whether it has anything to do with us. During such events, hopes for the best come to life in us, the continuity of life is confirmed.
Are we no less hurt by the tragedies in the lives of crowned persons?
Certainly. Remember how everyone was shocked by the death of Princess Diana – for the same reason. In fairy tales, princesses sometimes experience very difficult events, often causing the death of other people, for example, applicants for their hand and half of the kingdom, but they very rarely die themselves. Princesses simply cannot die – this means a catastrophe, a halt in development, the end of history. So after that terrible news, people reacted not only to the fact of the death of a particular person. In the soul, brought up on fairy tales, the impossibility to accept the death of the princess responded with pain. In general, it is not the conscious part of our psyche that reacts to both joyful and tragic events in royal families, but the unconscious. We find ourselves under the influence of archetypes, so the emotions that we can experience in these moments are so strong and not always clear to ourselves.
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