On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 2:33 AM, alister <alister.nospam.w...@ntlworld.com> wrote: > Why is it that the Phrase "Don't Panic" is strongly discouraged in > emergency situations? > > answer because the brain parses the statement as follows and focuses on > Panic instead of calm. > > Don't : I must not do somthing what must i not do > Panic: what is there to panic about? > Holly shit the buildings onfire, Raise Panic > > > The recommended phase is Stay calm > > Stay: ok dont change anything, whats next > Calm > ok I am calm that's alright then > > > I may not have raised my right hand but I though about it (& decided no > thanks)
Again though this is not due to any failure in processing the "not", but because the phrase "don't panic" suggests that there may be reason to panic, which leads to panic (assuming for the sake of argument that this phenomenon is real and not just anecdotal). -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
