Here are some different kinds of surprises I can think of, it is not a complete schema and I’m not even sure I’ve picked the most natural boundaries—but I do think it’s better than just using the word “surprise” as if we could talk about all these things at once:
S1) Being surprised to get something, when I would have been able to predict in advance how I would respond to it. (E.g. a spontaneous gift of chocolate.)
S2) Having knowledge withheld in order to experience a more gradual unfolding of knowledge.
S2a) Dramatic surprises; getting to follow the story as it progresses without knowing the ending already; being ignorant along with the characters (e.g. No Spoilers!)
S2b) Having the answer to a problem or theoretical insight withheld and finding it myself. (E.g. there are only solutions to the odd-numbered problems in the back of the book, or the proof is omitted as an exercise for the reader.)
S3) Having future experiences that are good in a way I couldn’t even understand now. (There are plenty of experiences I have as a grown-up that would have been incomprehensible to me as a child.)
S4) Watching a scary movie and strongly suspecting that a scary monster is about to jump out soon, but not knowing exactly when, or what it will look like.
At different times in my life I’ve had different levels of liking/tolerance/disliking for different types of surprise.
Here are some different kinds of surprises I can think of, it is not a complete schema and I’m not even sure I’ve picked the most natural boundaries—but I do think it’s better than just using the word “surprise” as if we could talk about all these things at once:
S1) Being surprised to get something, when I would have been able to predict in advance how I would respond to it. (E.g. a spontaneous gift of chocolate.)
S2) Having knowledge withheld in order to experience a more gradual unfolding of knowledge.
S2a) Dramatic surprises; getting to follow the story as it progresses without knowing the ending already; being ignorant along with the characters (e.g. No Spoilers!)
S2b) Having the answer to a problem or theoretical insight withheld and finding it myself. (E.g. there are only solutions to the odd-numbered problems in the back of the book, or the proof is omitted as an exercise for the reader.)
S3) Having future experiences that are good in a way I couldn’t even understand now. (There are plenty of experiences I have as a grown-up that would have been incomprehensible to me as a child.)
S4) Watching a scary movie and strongly suspecting that a scary monster is about to jump out soon, but not knowing exactly when, or what it will look like.
At different times in my life I’ve had different levels of liking/tolerance/disliking for different types of surprise.