I was wondering if anybody has had a frightful impulse to jump off something while you were fairly high up in the air. I've encountered this phenomena many times and so have my friends, but it is difficult to explain the concept in any search engine and come up with adequate references. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? -Evan.
Sure, I know exactly what you're talking about. But I don't think you will learn a great deal by trying to explore it. Here's why: people are always having strange/weird/irrational thoughts. Something like this can come about as a result of boredom, thrill-seeking impulses, simple curiosity, subconscious self-destructive urges or just plain irrational thinking. It's all very common and is just a part of being human.
Ditto. At this level (excuse pun) they are known as intrusive thoughts. Everyone gets them, and they should just be dismissed as one of those things. They are harmless. Dwelling on them can cause a serious illness. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD
Perhaps the impulse you're looking for is called "daredevil" it's not so much that "jumping from things" can be categorized as a unique impulse. Rather, it's within the broad realm of subjective "risks" that people derive pleasure from taking. This same impulse compels the racing driver to go faster, or the motocross biker/skateboarder to try insane tricks, or the skier to launch themselves into bigger slopes. I'm sure the same can be applied to sky divers and base jumpers. Here's an interesting article on the psychology of risk taking behavior. It also goes into detail about the possible anthropological/evolutionary reasons for it in humans. http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/15/Risk-taking-behaviors.html
There's at least one interesting theory about this: The human brain is an overlay of recent (last few million years) capacities and capabilities on top of the old, ancestral mammal brain. That old brain dates back to when we were monkeys in trees. We were small, with grasping feet and excellent agility. We had balancing tails. We could leap through twenty vertical feet of air and catch a branch with one foot, easily. We did it for play. We lived in these trees, high off the ground, in safety. The adaptations to our present weight and grounded physiology came later. They are instinctive, but they are overlaid on the older reflexes. So what we experience is a conversation between two parts of our brain. The one is saying "Whee ! last one to the girder down there is a rotten egg". The other is saying " Aagh ! don't ! you'll kill us all, what are you crazy ?" I like the theory. No evidence for it, though.
IceAura: I like your explanation and think it might be as good as any other explanation. It makes sense even though it might be incorrect. I often have the feeling and it mkes me dislike heights, although I do not avoid them. I always thought the feeling was due to a mild mental disorder. It is usually a memory (perhaps erroneous) of having had the urge to jump off a cliff or from the balcony of a high building. I say to myself: I am not certain that I really had the urge, rather than a faulty memory. My dislike of heights does not prevent me from looking over the edge of the Grand Canyon or enjoying the view from near the edge of a high cliff or from the balcony of a high rise building.
i can sense your a very good person and prolly been hurt by your parents too many times .....if you still have parents
