T
his article was taken from the February 2012 issue of Wired magazine.
This article was taken from the February 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
The romcom movie genre can hardly be described as fundamental to understanding human behaviour. But there is one exception: the Rob Reiner film
When Harry Met Sally contains probably the most important scene in film history (in terms of behavioural science). And yes, it is the scene in which
Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in Katz's Deli. But it is the response of the older lady at the next table that matters. When Ryan is finished, this character turns to the waiter and says: "I'll have what she's having."
The phrase gets to the core of the essential human talent for "social learning" -- learning from the example of those around us.
We do it earlier than infants of our fellow primates (as young as 42 minutes after birth, according to one study); we do it better and more accurately; and we keep on doing it for fun, long after our primate cousins have given up. This is the missing piece in our understanding of human behaviour: whereas cognitive neuroscientists and behavioural economists have shown the primary role of emotion as opposed to rationality in cognition, the importance of I'll Have What She's Having (IHWSH) as a thinking short cut is clearer than ever. Evolutionary psychologists might post-rationalise modern human quirks in terms of the supposed lifestyle of our ancestors, but IHWSH shows us our lives today.
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