The science of protecting people’s feelings: why we pretend all opinions are equal It’s both the coolest — and also in some ways the most depressing — psychology study ever. Indeed, it’s so cool (and so depressing) that the name of its chief finding — the Dunning-Kruger effect — has at least halfway filtered into public consciousness. In the classic 1999 paper, Cornell researchers David Dunning and Justin Kruger found that the less competent people were in three domains — humor, logic, and grammar — the less likely they were to be able to recognize that. Or as the researchers put it: We propose that those with limited knowledge in a domain suffer from a dual burden: Not only do they reach mistaken conclusions and make regrettable errors, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it. Dunning and Kruger didn’t directly apply this insight to our debates about science. So why do I bring this classic study up now? Yes, that’s right — we’re all right, nobody’s wrong, and nobody gets hurt feelings. But that’s not what happened. So why do we do this?
m.fastcompany If you Google “morning routine,” you’ll receive more than 24 million search results, and for good reason: Early risers seem to get more done and live happier lives. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs understand the benefits of having an early-morning routine: Starbucks’s Howard Schultz, GE’s Jeff Immelt, and Xerox’s Ursula Burns are just some of the early birds famous for rising before 6 a.m. to get ahead on their work. But a morning routine is only half of a productive day; the other is the evening routine that precedes it. Here are seven evening routines of famous and successful creatives, and how you can apply them to your own life. Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman Read Before Bed “Do you know what moviemaking is? One study by the University of Sussex found that just six minutes of reading a day is enough to reduce stress by 68%--an excellent excuse to start curling up with a good book before you turn in for the evening. Composer Ludwig Van Beethoven Went To Bed Early
Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains By NPR Staff Teens can’t control impulses and make rapid, smart decisions like adults can — but why? Research into how the human brain develops helps explain. In a teenager, the frontal lobe of the brain, which controls decision-making, is built but not fully insulated — so signals move slowly. “Teenagers are not as readily able to access their frontal lobe to say, ‘Oh, I better not do this,’ ” Dr. Jensen, who’s a neuroscientist and was a single mother of two boys who are now in their 20s, wrote The Teenage Brain to explore the science of how the brain grows — and why teenagers can be especially impulsive, moody and not very good at responsible decision-making. “We have a natural insulation … called myelin,” she says. This insulation process starts in the back of the brain and heads toward the front. “The last place to be connected — to be fully myelinated — is the front of your brain,” Jensen says. Interview Highlights On why teenagers are more prone to addiction On marijuana’s effect on IQ
Money Makes You Less Rational Than You Think Kinja is in read-only mode. We are working to restore service. Two year ago, Berkeley researchers showed that people who drive expensive vehicles are four times more likely to cut off drivers of lower status vehicles. The researchers concluded that higher social class can predict increased unethical behavior. This supports my theory that Lexus drivers are the worst. if I get cut off, its almost always by a Lexus. Flagged In my experience people in luxury brands tend to drive without regard for other drivers, usually driving erratically (very slow then very fast, similar to people that are texting; swerving around without checking lanes, never signalling, drifting out into the middle of an intersection during a red light then not going when the light turns green; generally like self-important pricks) people in expensive sporty looking cars tend to drive more aggressively, cutting people off, etc.
Lasting Relationships Rely On 2 Traits Gottman wanted to know more about how the masters created that culture of love and intimacy, and how the disasters squashed it. In a follow-up study in 1990, he designed a lab on the University of Washington campus to look like a beautiful bed-and-breakfast retreat. He invited 130 newlywed couples to spend the day at this retreat and watched them as they did what couples normally do on vacation: cook, clean, listen to music, eat, chat, and hang out. And Gottman made a crucial discovery in this study—one that gets at the heart of why some relationships thrive while others languish. Throughout the day, partners would make requests for connection, what Gottman calls “bids.” For example, say that the husband is a bird enthusiast and notices a goldfinch fly across the yard. The wife now has a choice. People who turned toward their partners in the study responded by engaging the bidder, showing interest and support in the bid.
La morte dell'individualità L’idea che siamo individui dal pensiero libero ha plasmato la società occidentale per secoli. I dati però ci mostrano che ciò che domina realmente è il pensiero di gruppo. Per gran parte della nostra storia ci è stato insegnato che la verità e la morale vengono da Dio e dal Re, e che il libero arbitrio è solo una questione teologica. Nel 1700 ciò ha iniziato a cambiare e si è fatta strada, nei sistemi di credenze delle alte sfere, l’idea che gli esseri umani sono individui liberi con una libertà di scelta razionale. Nel corso del tempo i concetti di razionalità e individualità hanno profondamente modellato i governi e le culture dell’Occidente. Ma fino a che punto siamo individui con libertà di pensiero ? Una recente ricerca sta iniziando a scoprire il grado in cui ci comportiamo come individui indipendenti. Per sviluppare questa nuova scienza sono stati studiati dei veri e propri laboratori viventi. La logica dietro a tutto questo è semplice.
Hacking Into Your Happy Chemicals: Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphins and Oxytocin | Thai Nguyen Image Credit: Pixabay. We might not have a money tree, but we can have a happiness tree. Dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins are the quartet responsible for our happiness. Being in a positive state has significant impact on our motivation, productivity, and wellbeing. Here are some simple ways to hack into our positive neurochemicals: Dopamine Dopamine motivates us to take action toward goals, desires, and needs, and gives a surge of reinforcing pleasure when achieving them. Break big goals down into little pieces -- rather than only allowing our brains to celebrate when we've hit the finish line, we can create a series of little finish lines which releases dopamine. Instead of being left with a dopamine hangover, create new goals before achieving your current one. Serotonin Serotonin flows when you feel significant or important. Reflecting on past significant achievements allows the brain to re-live the experience. Oxytocin Endorphins
What’s Your Personal Productivity Style? Find Out Here. by Carson Tate Big Think Edge is a video-driven platform that catalyzes happiness and performance in professional environments by cultivating leadership, creativity, and self-knowledge. Learn more about Big Think Edge. When it comes to managing distractions at work, I want you not simply to survive those distractions, but thrive through them because you’re working from your personal Productivity Style. As a refresher course: Your personal Productivity Style is your personal approach to planning and allocating effort across goals, activities, and time periods. There are four different Productivity Styles: Prioritizer, Planner, Arranger, and Visualizer. A Prioritizer is that guy or gal who will always defer to logical, analytical, fact-based, critical, and realistic thinking. The Planner is the team member who thrives on organized, sequential, planned, and detailed thinking. An Arranger prefers supportive, expressive, and emotional thinking. Image courtesy of iStock
Future - How human culture influences our genetics You shouldn't be able to drink milk. Your ancestors couldn't. It is only in the last 9,000 years that human adults have gained that ability without becoming ill. Children could manage it, but it was only when we turned to dairy farming that adults acquired the ability to properly digest milk. It turns out that cultures with a history of dairy farming and milk drinking have a much higher frequency of lactose tolerance – and its associated gene – than those who don't. Drinking milk is just one of example of the way that traditions and cultural practices can influence the path of our evolution. Another example of how culture influences our genes is the relationship between yam farming and malaria resistance. But there are some people who seem to have a natural defense force. Here's what's interesting: those communities that farm yams have much higher rates of the sickle-cell gene than nearby communities with different agricultural practices.
Hive minds: Time to drop the fiction of individuality - opinion - 08 April 2014 FOR most of Western history, truth and morality came from God and king, and free will was a theological question. This began to change in the 1700s, and the idea that humans were individuals with the freedom of rational choice soon wormed its way into the belief systems of the upper echelons of society. Over time, the concepts of rationality and individualism profoundly shaped the governments and culture of the West. But to what extent are we freethinking individuals? Recent research is beginning to uncover the degree to which we act as independent individuals. RationalWiki The Psychology of Trust in Life, Learning, and Love by Maria Popova The science of why tit-for-tat isn’t the best strategy for cooperation and why you should hear out your hunches. “When you trust people to help you, they often do,” Amanda Palmer asserted in her beautiful meditation on the art of asking without shame. DeSteno, who has previously studied the osmosis of good and evil in all of us and the psychology of compassion and resilience, argues that matters of trust occupy an enormous amount of our mental energies and influence, directly or indirectly, practically every aspect of our everyday lives. Unlike many other puzzles we confront, questions of trust don’t just involve attempting to grasp and analyze a perplexing concept. Unlike many forms of communication, issues of trust are often characterized by a competition or battle…. Indeed, trust shapes how we love and how we learn, why we succeed and why we falter, what we buy and what we leave behind. He begins at the beginning, with a definition of what trust actually is:
New evidence shows how chronic stress predisposes brain to mental disorders (Medical Xpress)—University of California, Berkeley, researchers have shown that chronic stress generates long-term changes in the brain that may explain why people suffering chronic stress are prone to mental problems such as anxiety and mood disorders later in life. Their findings could lead to new therapies to reduce the risk of developing mental illness after stressful events. Doctors know that people with stress-related illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have abnormalities in the brain, including differences in the amount of gray matter versus white matter. Gray matter consists mostly of cells – neurons, which store and process information, and support cells called glia – while white matter is comprised of axons, which create a network of fibers that interconnect neurons. How chronic stress creates these long-lasting changes in brain structure is a mystery that researchers are only now beginning to unravel. Does stress affect brain connectivity?