The Predictability Net

After a long day, you might grab your favorite snack, wrap yourself in a blanket, and open the streaming service with your favorite show. You’ve probably watched this show a hundred times and know every single line, yet you’re just as invested as the first time you saw it. But why do you find comfort in the storylines and plots that are engraved in your memory? 

Image Source: Upsteam (2011), by Gilgian Gelzer

Predictability: knowing what is going to happen next, makes you feel safe. Your brain can finally relax and feel calm. There isn’t any tension or uncertainty that you have to prepare for. No curveballs. Psychologists say that familiarity offers a sense of security, and more specifically control.

The amygdala is responsible for processing emotions like fear and anxiety, and when you know something is certainly going to happen, the amygdala becomes less active. So, that show that’s engraved in your memory is like a fuzzy blanket for your brain. 

While predictability and familiarity may be comforting, it can also hold you back. When everything around you is predictable, you’re not growing. Situations that are unfamiliar can be uncomfortable, but that’s supposed to be the point. 

The shows, routines, and moments we cling to give us peace, but the situations that scare us, confuse us, or stretch us are the ones that make us evolve.