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When Less Information Is More: Why Vague Feedback Helps Weight Loss
We are on a never ending quest for precise information. Just take the bathroom scale as an example. Several years ago we were happy to stand on the scale and get an estimate of how many pounds we weighed plus or minus ½ pound or so. Now, we can buy scales that give us feedback about our weight, % body fat and even hydration levels to three decimal places out. The more specific the information, the more in control we are, and the better we will be at managing our weight and reaching our health goals . As it happens, when you get precise information about how much you weigh, it forces you to be objective about your expectations for future weight loss success. To demonstrate the benefits of vagueness, researcher Himanshu Mishra and colleagues at the University of Utah asked volunteers interested in losing weight to participate in a three week health program. Some folks were told precisely what their HHI was and how it compared to the ideal.
Transitions and Transitional Devices
Summary: A discussion of transition strategies and specific transitional devices. Contributors:Ryan Weber, Karl StolleyLast Edited: 2011-02-02 04:32:35 Transitional devices are like bridges between parts of your paper. There are several types of transitional devices, and each category leads readers to make certain connections or assumptions. Here is a list of some common transitional devices that can be used to cue readers in a given way. To Add: and, again, and then, besides, equally important, finally, further, furthermore, nor, too, next, lastly, what's more, moreover, in addition, first (second, etc.) To Compare: whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, where, compared to, up against, balanced against, vis a vis, but, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast, although this may be true To Prove: To Show Exception: yet, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, of course, once in a while, sometimes To Show Time:
Open Culture
Best of Our Blogs: May 13, 2011
Marketers are so good at making it sound like your problems will disappear with a sweep of their magic wand. It could be a pill, the perfect exercise machine, skin cream, a juicer or the latest gadget to cure whatever ails you. And we want to buy into the magic. It’s so easy to want to believe that life’s greatest issues can be cured with a single product or belief. But in most cases, real change takes hard work-deep in the trenches kind of hard. Sometimes we’re not ready to face that change. Are you going through this now? Work: How to Use Our Computers to Plug into Mindfulness (Mindfulness & Psychotherapy) – If you’re flipping through multiple windows while checking your email and reading this post, you’re probably using technology to waste time. A Dozen Ways to Betray Your Partner (Always Learning) – You can do more harm to your relationship than just cheat on your partner. How to Piece Together an Attitude for Success (Adventures in Positive Psychology) – Want to be successful?
$2,400 “Introduction to Linux” course will be free and online this summer
Earlier this week, The Linux Foundation announced that it would be working with edX, a non-profit online learning site governed by Harvard and MIT, to make its “Introduction to Linux” course free and open to all. The Linux Foundation has long offered a wide variety of training courses through its website, but those can generally cost upwards of $2,000. This introductory class, which usually costs $2,400, will be the first from the Linux Foundation to run as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). There is no limit on enrollment through edX's platform. The course will be held this summer, although an official start date has not been posted yet. Students can either audit the course, which means they'd get access to all the course materials but not have to commit to completing the tests and assignments, or they can take the course for a certificate of completion, which will be offered for free.
OER Glue
Artificial grammar learning reveals inborn language sense, study shows
Parents know the unparalleled joy and wonder of hearing a beloved child's first words turn quickly into whole sentences and then babbling paragraphs. But how human children acquire language-which is so complex and has so many variations-remains largely a mystery. Fifty years ago, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky proposed an answer: Humans are able to learn language so quickly because some knowledge of grammar is hardwired into our brains. In other words, we know some of the most fundamental things about human language unconsciously at birth, without ever being taught. Now, in a groundbreaking study, cognitive scientists at The Johns Hopkins University have confirmed a striking prediction of the controversial hypothesis that human beings are born with knowledge of certain syntactical rules that make learning human languages easier. "This research shows clearly that learners are not blank slates; rather, their inherent biases, or preferences, influence what they will learn.
Sitting pretty
Take one industrial designer renowned for his innovative approach and one manufacturer heralded for its environmental policy and the result is something rather ground breaking - the SAYL office chair. During its design process Yves Behar, founder of San Francisco-based design firm fuseproject, together with the development team at Herman Miller, scrutinised every part of the chair to ensure that it would be the lightest, strongest and most sustainable possible. Certainly its most innovative feature is the full suspension back, which is literally frameless. Although Herman Miller has been environmentally aware since it was first founded in Michigan in 1905, it was in 2000 that it publicly stated its intention to become a sustainable business. The ‘cradle to cradle’ paradigm is modelled on nature where nothing goes to waste; one organism’s waste is another’s food. “I started looking at ways that you could have a tower system that could essentially carry loads. 1. 11.
