Often in sitcoms the laughs come from a lack of self-awareness of some main character, e.g. Michael Scott. Thinking about self-awareness as a process, I wonder if it being energetically expensive can be a low-level source of anxiety. Childhood is a time when processes are learned and then automated so for those who didn't experience a lot of social interaction as children, self-awareness may be too expensive to perform a lot of.
Discussion
Interesting take. By definition, introspection is expensive, in that it subtracts from one’s external awareness. I
I don’t suppose this is dependent so much on childhood isolation. Most people are reluctant to explore themselves “too deeply”.
And while this may just be human nature (to be so distracted from one’s self) at least humans ARE capable of self reflection. So there’s that.