Thank you. ) It was a saying that used to perplex me as a small child. I would look and see, yes, it is greener over there than here. Then I'd go that spot over there, look back, and where I just was looked greener, and where I now was looked just like where I was before. Later I learned how to draw. The illusion of greener in the distance is due to a shift of viewpoint. In the distance, the angle of our vision is lower and so we see the little green blades of grass overlapping, creating a solid mass of green. As our feet we look down at a perpendicular angle, seeing the ground between the blades, along with little bits of deadgrass or pale stolons - a patchwork of earth colors amid the green. Both points of view are aspects of the truth. So the metaphor, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," has a lifetime of lessons to teach us. I'm still learning them. :-/
There is a well-documented phenomenon in psychology known as hedonic adaptation. In simple terms, things which initially seem new, exciting, and extraordinary become, over time, familiar, mundane, and ordinary. Hence, we start looking for the new new thing which will reignite the heightened state of arousal the previous new thing brought us. The grass on the other side of the fence holds that promise much more than the familiar boring grass on our own side.
Hedonic adaptation does NOT necessarlly apply to situations where we are either uncertain what the new new thing will bring, or we have reason to believe the new new thing might be negative. Under those conditions, people tend to prefer the familiar and shy away from novelty. So, if you think the neighbor's green grass is full of snakes, you might convince yourself your own parched brownish lawn is actually more aesthetically pleasing than the hideous snake-camouflaging green of the lawn over the fence.
My sincere Thank You for your answer, OldSchool, I just imagined sitting with you somewhere with a glass of wine and discussing these topics. Catching comments like this lifts me up !!!!
@Whitehair -- Thanks for the compliment. Actually, I don't drink wine and I tend to be this geeky even without the aid of GABA receptor agonists (that's "alcohol" to non-geeks...;-D...)
This post was edited by OldSchoolTheSKOSlives at November 11, 2016 4:03 PM MST
Benedict Arnold 