the.com/surprise
the brain's favorite glitch, where prediction fails and delight or dread rushes the gap
means A sudden, unexpected event, feeling, or piece of information that catches you off guard.
from From Old French 'surprise,' the feminine past participle of 'surprendre,' meaning 'to overtake' or 'seize unawares' — built from 'sur-' (over, from Latin 'super') plus 'prendre' (to take, from Latin 'prehendere,' to grasp). So at its root a surprise is something that literally 'overtakes' you, originally with a martial flavor: to surprise an enemy was to fall upon them before they could prepare. The sense softened over time from ambush to mere astonishment.
- dopamine spike
- Unexpected rewards fire neurons harder than expected ones
- military origin
- From Old French surprendre, to overtake or seize suddenly
- the party trap
- Surveys show many people secretly dread surprise parties
- facial universal
- Raised brows and dropped jaw read across all cultures
- shortest emotion
- It fades within seconds, the briefest of the basic six
deep blue defeats kasparov — ibm's chess computer beat world champion garry kasparov in 1997, shocking the chess world
brexit referendum result 2016 — uk voted 52% to leave eu, stunning most pollsters and political establishment
truman defeats dewey 1948 — harry truman won us presidency despite newspapers declaring dewey the winner before votes counted