Knee-Jerk Reaction Date: November 10, 2021 Our daily life is a continuous learning process. Admit it or not, in a day to day of interacting with others, we used to learn new stuffs. And I just want to share with you another addition to my vocabulary "knee-jerk reaction". Yesterday, my colleague and I are talking about my other colleague who used to chase us from time to time every time he wants something to be done immediately. We understand his concerns and not complaining about it, however, we also have our own projects and priorities that needs to be delivered. However, his daily chasing over mail seems already annoying, so we cannot avoid to make a small rant about him. He is soooo "kulet"!. That as if we're not doing any other stuffs when he demanded updates from us. And upon our conversation, my colleague just suddenly mentioned about the "knee-jerk reaction".
Image source https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0337/8029/files/Knee_Jerk_large.png?886 He mentioned that somehow that colleague of us has this kind of attitude. This is the first time I've heard about this idiomatic expression, so to make sure my reply is aligned, I did a research on what does it mean. According to the free dictionary, knee-jerk reaction is an immediate reaction made without examining causes or facts. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/knee-jerk+reaction
My literal translation of this is "**impulsive behavior**". As you may see on the below definition of impulsive behavior based on healthline.com, it is almost the same on how the idiomatic expression "knee-jerk reaction" is being defined. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/impulsive-behavior
Oftentimes, we don't realize that we're becoming impulsive in making decisions. We've been carried away by our emotions, which sometimes lead us to an undesirable situation. **Impulsive Buying** You might experienced this already, that while walking around a mall, (you don't have any plans to spend money or buy some stuffs but you're there for specific reason) however, you accidentally spotted a thing that's on 50% sale!. And out of curiosity, you came across to check and inspect on that specific product. Then all of a sudden, you picked up the item and payed for it without hesitation or without thinking if that item is really needed or just an extra load of your house. That's what impulsive buying is. You don't have any plan to buy that thing, but temptations are all around and hence in just a finger snap, you realized that you have that item in your hand already. Impulsive Rating You bought a thing that you really like from an online seller. And when you tested it, you found out that it's working as expected. Without doing further inspection of the product, you then gave the seller a 5 star rating because the item that you purchased is proven to be working. But then soon enough when you started to use the other functionality of the item, you noticed that there's actually a damage and you suddenly realized that the item is not worth it!. I often experience this one. I once bought a blue tooth speaker from Shopee and as soon as I have received the parcel, I tested if I can connect successfully via blue tooth. After proving that the connection can be easily established and the sound is good, I gave the seller a perfect rating. But then within the same day, I realized that the volume control is not working properly. So until now, I am dealing with that broken volume control whenever I am using that speaker. Impulsive accusations I believe we all have experienced this. Sometimes, we tend to judge a person without looking for further justification if our judgement of that person is correct or not. We used to accuse them even though we don't have enough evidence to prove our accusations. We used to accuse a person because of our anger or the emotions we wear during the time of confrontation. Let's say in a crowded area where there's mix of professional people and few beggars. When I say professional, let's say they all wear formal dresses and wear ties. And then you suddenly lost your phone from your pocket, let's say. As soon as you realized that your phone is missing, who do you think will you accuse of stealing your phone? Will you ever accuse the person who wear ties and formal dress? Of course not! right? Because back in your mind, you thought that "why would they ever steal your phone if they can afford to buy it because they are well dressed". In our day to day struggles in this universe, we may experience knee-jerk reaction depending on the situation that we're dealing with. **Impulsive behavior** causes us to **over react** as well. But the important thing is, at the end of day, we should have learned from it and so that the next time, we could try to avoid committing the same mistake or showing insignifant reaction to a specific situation. We should always make a pause and think for a while before doing any actions. I have to end this article quickly because I heard from the other room that my kids are fighting again and looks like I need to do my another task as a mother - to be their **referee**. I heard someone's crying already.
46 comments
I love how you associated knee-jerk reaction with impulsiveness. I agree that we really shouldn't be impulsive because most of the time, we usually make mistake out of impulsiveness. But as you've said, what's important is that at the end of the day, we learned from our mistake so that we won't be able to do it again.
yeah because admittedly, it's very difficult to avoid from being impulsive sometimes...
sometimes, yes. haha. it's just easier to act thoughtlessly. saka minsan kasi talaga nauuna yung act bago pag isipan ang ginagawa haha
truth!...you'll just realize na , bakit ko nga pala binili to? hindi naman to kailangan sa ngayon, or something like that.
haha oops. I don't usually buy impulsively tho. worth it naman mga purchase ko pero may tendency na I always choose the more expensive one. ang impractical lang. aww
ako sis madalas , kapag nasa mall tapos nakakakita ng sale...nakakatempt talaga lalo na if yung item eh gusto mo din pero di mo naman talaga kailangan... halimbawa, bag..alam mong maayus pa ang bag mo pero dahil sale, bibilhin mo kahit di naman need.
buti nalang di nako nagmmall haha. saka buti din hindi ako nattempt ng sale. yung sakin lang talaga, kailangan ko naman mga pinagbibibili ko pero instead na mas mura, ewan ba bakit mas prefer ko pa yung mas mahal. it's not practical. pero buti madalang lang naman
Prone ako sa mga impulsive buying, eating lalo na pag stress at malungkot ako. Ewan parang naging comfort ko bumili at kumain hehhe! But then, I thank God that I could still control myself, not very impulsive pa rin by God's grace.
Same tayo sis.. Pag galit ako or malungkot, yan ang pinakadiversion ko, yung magbrowse ng shopee.. Ahahhaa.. Naalala ko dati nag away kami ni mister, sa galit ko, pag uwi galing work, dumaan ako ng mall at bumili ng bagong cp.. Ahahaha... Thru credit card syempre..
Ahah! Hala mas grabe toh cellphone talaga.. Relate ako sa shopee sis, lagi ako nkakabili jan pag wala sa mood 😂
one time ko lang naman ginawa yun sis..ahahaha
I know someone who has this knee-jerk reactions attitude, as if right at that moment it will be done with out realizing if it is for better or a worst result. Maybe I had this knee-jerk reactions in adapting cats that in danger from the street though I can't afford it anymore. Wala eh nauna ang awa, tsaka ko na lang maisip kung papano ko ngayon bubuhayin pag nasa bahay na😅
Yeah.. Knee-jerk attitude is not good really... And something that we need to avoid
A lot of people are guilty of one or the other. I personally do that impulsive buying thing
Ay ,super relate ako sia sa pagiging referee ,ganayan lage mga anak ko ,tawa now away later😅Anywys ang ganda ng gawa mo ngayon ,we have to accept our mistakes and learn from it.Have a goodday to you sis.
naku sis, korek..wala pang 1 hour na magkakasundo eh nagpapaluan na ulit..mamamalayan mo nag iiyakan nanaman. Anyways, thanks sa compliment mo sis. Yep correct, dapat iacknowledge natin na nagkamali tayo para maadress natin yung pagkakamaling yun.
I am guilty of this. And I am hating this kind of attitude because I always end up regretting the action I did. I have to do something about this knee-jerk or being impulsive before it gets worse.
yeah, same here!. This is a kind of reaction which is very difficult to avoid specially if you're in an intense emotion. Tendency is you would make an impulsive decision which night cause you a lot of troubles.
And regret for the rest of my life haha. I don't like that to happen. It's so difficult to sleep at night thinking about the things you've done because your conscience and regret are haunting you.
exactly....same struggle here
guilty din ako diyan hehe lalo na kapag wala na ako sa mood. Knee jerk reaction pala ang tawag diyan hehe
ou sis...kasi nga naman parang kapag diba halimbawa pinukpok mo tuhod mo, matik magrereact ang paa mo..either makakasipa ka , etc...
Thanks sa details sis at yan pala twg no, sino ba nmn ang hindi mahuhumaling sa 50% hehehe pero naglearned din ako dyan eh. Parang c bluetooth mo din.
ahahaha..ou sis...akala ko nung una, okay si speaker ko, ayun pala palpak ang volume control. Yung bigla nalang super lakas.
Hahahaa gnyan tlga sa shopee kaya ayw ko bumili ng mhal msydo ok lng kung damit
truth sis...nakakakaba din minsan bumili dahil hindi natin sure yung quality
Uo ksi di natin nahahawakan kya buwis pera hehehe
We did the triangle hammer thing when I was in highschool I was so amazed by it haha!
I am so guilty about this. Lalo na pag naggogrocery. Tapos pagdating sa bahay, maiisip ko na sana di ko na lang binili yung ganun.hahaha Thank you for sharing this to us sis. May bago akong natutunan today.hihi
ay truth, ganyan din ako minsan sis..kapag nasa bahay na saka ko marerealize na napamahal pala ako sa binili ko..hahaha
Galing may natutunan din ako sa binasa ko. Seryoso na sana ako kaso sa last part ay naimagine ko na ang lambingan ng mga tskiting patrol.. hahaha
hindi nga lambingan te, naga iyakan na..ahahaha..dahil sa bahay bahayan ang pinag awayan
hahaha.. ang saya nila anoh? away bati at away bati.. hahaha
ano pa
When I saw the title I thought your knee is hurts haha. But when I read it now I understand and I like the term knee jerk- reaction. Then I realized I'm impulsive in handling problems na sa subra kung kakaisip ng negatibong bagay pinaghihinaan agad ng loob. Nakakalimutan ko na to find a solution to solve my problem. I'm impulsive too sometimes I can't control my emotion lalo na pag galit ako masasakit na salita ang lumalabas sa bibig ko. But I learn from it and I change my perspective in life for the better.
isa yan sa common sa atin sis. kapag galit tayo, andami nating nasasabi na masasakit. tapos marerealize mo nalang kapag humupa na yung galit mo.
medyo relate ako dito ah hahaha lalo na ngayon sale na namn 11.11 HAHAH
yeah, meron na akong nakaabang..pero I think since pinag isipan ko naman na yun, hindi na sya impulsive :D
May natutunan na namañ ako dito oh hahaha. Nung nakaraan Naman Yung fat finger hehe
Daming alam nung mga kateam ko na taga lpndon sis eh.. Hahaha.. Lumalawak ang bukabolaryo ko
Hmm, a new word was added to my dictionary. You are right, life is a continuous process of learning new things, and today I learned a new thing. Haha, please take care of your kids. Don't beat them. Hehe, because my mom always used to do this in our childhood when we are siblings started fighting.
Ahaha.. I didn't beat them don't worry...I just told them to stop fighting..
Impulsive decision, impulsive buying and impulsive rating.. sometimes I really can't avoid those impulsiveness as sometimes I can't control my self and emotions but somehow I tried to correct them after a little realization, coz I don't want some trouble..☺️
That's right sis.. As aoon as you realizwd your mistakex you should work to correct them
Gosh, ang dami ko pa talagang di alam na words. Di din kasi talaga ako pala search kaya ganon haha iilan nalang laman ng vocabulary ko my goodness.
Naku ako din sis..sa mga kateam ko na taga U. K dami kong natututunan....