The Art of Having an Informed Opinion “What the pupil must learn, if he learns anything at all, is that the world will do most of the work for you, provided you cooperate with it by identifying how it really works and aligning with those realities. If we do not let the world teach us, it teaches us a lesson.” — Joseph Tussman The first thing they always do is tell you what they think. When someone has an opinion about everything, they want to share it with you. They often tout stats and research as if they had an imaginary checklist of facts they need to be able to rattle off to establish themselves as an expert in a field they actually know very little about. I’m a firm believer that you can learn something from everyone. The problem comes from how we see the world. The world never tells you that you’re wrong; it only gives you outcomes. When an outcome is not what you want it to be, things get tough. People who can’t change their minds never move forward. They stop getting promoted.
The Velocity of Skill Development: How Brazil Develops Football Players Brazil figured out how to rapidly increase the velocity of skill development in its football players and it’s not what you think. Not all skills are developed in the same way — developing soft-skills is different than developing hard skills. It’s impossible to directly teach someone to improvise their way to a brilliant goal in hockey or soccer. The world does not work that way. Part of the problem is time-based. It’s hard to get the quantity of repetitions you need for feedback with the variety of situations you need to develop improvisation. Traditionally coaches practice the most common situations. There is another way. You can tinker with the environment to force people to make faster decisions, increase the number of repetitions, and force a velocity that increases the variety or situations a player can practice. This is what Brazil does differently. In The Little Book of Talent, Daniel Coyle writes: Brazil is the home of many of the world’s most skilled soccer players. Still curious?
The Knowledge Project Podcast with Shane Parrish With over 11 million downloads, the Knowledge Project has garnered the attention of those who want to better understand themselves, others, and the world around them. Together with host Shane Parrish, you’ll uncover the timeless ideas, mental models, stories, and life lessons that will help you master the best of what other people have already figured out. Listen and Learn on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Stitcher | Spotify | Overcast | Android | Google Podcasts “A regular dose of insightful perspectives on life and success from a huge range of backgrounds and experiences.” — WIRED, ranking The Knowledge Project #1 for best podcast for curious minds Listen And Learn 4.8, 1k Ratings Links and Show Notes for All Episodes Episode 70: Avoiding Loserthink with Scott Adams — Dilbert creator and author Scott Adams shares cognitive tools and tricks we can use to think better, expand our perspective, and avoid slumping into “loserthink.” Episode 66: Pleasure is the Measure with Sex Educator Dr.
Gregarismo: el efecto Bandwagon y el efecto Underdog El ser humano es un ser gregario por naturaleza. Como tal, está sujeto a la interacción con otras personas, las cuales gozan de puntos de vista propios sobre la realidad del mundo que les rodea. Por ello, la opinión de la comunidad ha sido siempre un referente para guiar la propia conducta. En la actualidad, una de las maneras de ser consciente de la opinión de las comunidades es a través de los medios de comunicación, que permiten informarse a través de elementos como las encuestas de opinión de las creencias y visiones de los ciudadanos respecto a temas concretos. A continuación veremos en qué consisten, pero antes, veamos en qué consiste exactamente una encuesta de opinión. ¿Qué es una encuesta de opinión? Se considera encuesta de opinión pública aquella consulta realizada a personas escogidas según principios estadísticos, siendo una herramienta imprescindible de valoración de la opinión pública. Efecto Bandwagon ¿Cuándo aparece el efecto Bandwagon? Efecto Underdog Conclusiones
How to Think: The Skill You've Never Been Taught No skill is more valuable and harder to come by than the ability to critically think through problems. Schools don’t teach you a method of thinking. Thinking is one of those things that can be learned but can’t be taught. When it comes to thinking the mind has an optimal way to be operated. Good decisions create time, bad ones consume it. But how can we learn how to think? For the answer we turn to Solitude and Leadership, a lecture given by William Deresiewicz. Learning How To Think Let’s start with how you don’t learn to think. Improving Thinking The best way to improve your ability to think is to actually spend time thinking. Your decisions do the talking for your thinking. You can’t simply take a few minutes here and there, get the gist of the problem, and expect to make good decisions. “It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea. — William Deresiewicz
The Discipline Necessary for Self-Assessment is the Key to Success Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield, authors of The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well, came out with an op-ed in the New York Times. The interesting argument, one that is echoed by Charles Darwin, is that the to success is a brutal self-assessment. “Discipline is the attitude that helps us discern right from wrong … Discipline is what makes us responsible toward ourselves [and] toward the society in which we live.” — Massimo Vignelli What happens to organizations and people when they find obstacles in their paths? Professor Argyris called the most common response single loop learning — an insular mental process in which we consider possible external or technical reasons for obstacles.LESS common but vastly more effective is the cognitive approach that Professor Argyris called double-loop learning. In part, an accurate self-assessment allows for the feedback necessary to grow. The discipline of self-assessment is only the start.
Grit: A Complete Guide on How to Be More Mentally Tough What is Grit? Let's define grit. Grit is the perseverance and passion to achieve long–term goals. Duckworth's research on grit has shown that… West Point cadets who scored highest on the Grit Test were 60% more likely to succeed than their peers.Ivy League undergraduate students who had more grit also had higher GPAs than their peers — even though they had lower SAT scores and weren’t as “smart.”When comparing two people who are the same age but have different levels of education, grit (and not intelligence) more accurately predicts which one will be better educated.Competitors in the National Spelling Bee outperform their peers not because of IQ, but because of their grit and commitment to more consistent practice. (If you'd like more, I wrote about Duckworth's research here.) A Video Explanation of Grit This short TED talk by psychology professor Angela Duckworth explains the concept of grit and how it helps foster mental toughness in our everyday lives. How to Be Mentally Strong
Consejos para identificar las pseudociencias | Mente y Ciencia En momentos desesperados, medidas desesperadas. ¿Cuántas veces hemos escuchado o dicho esta frase en nuestras vidas? Muchas, seguro. Y es en este preciso momento en el cual recurrimos incluso a aquello no probado con la intención de obtener el resultado que deseamos. Pues bien, es en estas situaciones de desesperación cuando las pseudociencias tienden a aparecer en la vida de la persona para ofrecerle la solución perfecta a todos sus problemas. Contenidos relacionados: ¿Qué son las pseudociencias? La pseudociencia es entendida por autores como Alonso y Cortiñas (2014) como una falsa ciencia la cual ha sido capaz de encontrar un hueco en el tejido de nuestra sociedad y que, además, tiene la capacidad de manejar ciertas herramientas comunicativas con las cuales llegar a un mayor número de individuos. Estos mismos autores, tienen a bien destacar una serie de principios y características negativas que tienen las pseudociencias: Un fenómeno muy antiguo Algunas pseudociencias Frenología Astrología
The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet [Infographic] Critical thinking skills truly matter in learning. Why? Because they are life skills we use every day of our lives. It’s a simple infographic offering questions that work to develop critical thinking on any given topic. How Does It Work? Critical thinking is thinking on purpose. The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet includes categories for Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. In these questions you’ll find great potential conversation starters and fillers. Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet for Printing You can grab an 11x17 PDF file of the Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet for quick and easy printing. We really hope you enjoy this cheatsheet.
The Biggest Barrier to Accomplishing Great Things At some point, we all give up trying to get better at something. But Why? Let’s say you want to play the piano. In the beginning, it’s quite rewarding. You start to take lessons and notice immediate progress. This is where perseverance matters. In their book, Human Performance, psychologists Paul Fitts and Michael Posner call this stage of skill mastery the autonomous phase. The only thing that is going to get someone who is proficient out of their plateau is to isolate some small component that needs improvement and concentrate there. “If you’re myopic and only look at the next moment in time and you base your decisions on ‘what am I going to get out of this in the next nanosecond’ versus ‘what do I have to put into this in the next nanosecond,’ then when you hit a plateau, your natural conclusion is to quit and move to the next thing. — Angela Duckworth This deliberate practice approach relies on something called “augmented feedback,” from expert coaches. This is where grit comes in.
3 Phrases That Will Instantly Calm Angry or Emotional People If only the world were populated exclusively by the sane and rational, your job as a business owner would certainly be a lot easier. But as we all know, some people spend much of their lives over-agitated or spoiling for a fight, and even the most level-headed of us sometimes let our emotions get the best of us. You can’t always avoid having to deal with overly emotional people, but while these difficult conversations are simply part of life, there are ways to make them less painful and more constructive. That’s the message of a useful post that recently appeared on blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree. The piece features an interview with Dr. Albert J. 1. The problem may not be that they’re speaking too quickly; the problem may be they’re screaming their head off or sobbing uncontrollably. “Why does this work? 2. This one works on similar principles to phrase number one. 3. Looking for more advice along these lines? More From Inc. Photo of crying person courtesy of Shutterstock. Success!
Ramón Nogueras nos aclara «por qué creemos en mierdas» | Mente y Ciencia Ramón Nogueras es un psicólogo, escritor y conferenciante español, reconocido popularmente por su ardua defensa de la psicología basada en evidencia y el método científico. Con un código lúcido, perspicaz, así como incendiario y fundamentado a partes iguales, Ramón Nogueras ha conseguido movilizar a miles de seguidores; levantando ampollas incluso en el propio gremio de la psicología. El psicólogo es conocido por denunciar públicamente determinadas prácticas pseudocientíficas o sin evidencia contrastada en su propio sector. Contenidos relacionados: Ramón Nogueras es psicólogo conductual, divulgador científico, colaborador en medios de comunicación -habitual en RNE-; consultor de recursos humanos, docente universitario y autor del blog ‘Sesgo de confirmación‘. Por qué creemos en mierdas pretende esclarecer por qué adoptamos creencias contrarias a la evidencia -bulos, supersticiones, mitos, etc.-. Claro que la tenemos. ¿Son, entonces, todas las opiniones igualmente respetables? Ahora sí.
Overcoming Obstacles to Critical Thinking The ability to think critically is one skill separating innovators from followers. It combats the power of advertisers, unmasks the unscrupulous and pretentious, and exposes unsupported arguments. Students enjoy learning the skill because they immediately see how it gives them more control. Yet critical thinking is simple: It is merely the ability to understand why things are they way they are and to understand the potential consequences of actions. Devastating Consequences, Tremendous Opportunities Young people—without significant life experience and anxious to fit in—are especially vulnerable to surface appeal. Every educator is in a position to teach students how to gather information, evaluate it, screen out distractions, and think for themselves. A World of Illusions Seeing beyond superficial appearances is especially important today because we are surrounded by illusions, many of them deliberately created. Making a Start in Teaching Critical Thinking
Self-Improvement Archives | Page 2 of 3 | Farnam Street [This introduction is the first of a four-part series on memory. Also see Chatper One, Two, and Three on the challenges of memory.] The Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter has some brilliant insights into the human memory. His wonderful book The Seven Sins of Memory presents the case that our memories fail us in regular, repeated, and predictable ways. We forget things we think we should know; we think we saw things we didn’t see; we can’t remember where we left our keys; we can’t remember _____’s name; we think Susan told us something that Steven did. “Though the behaviors…seem perverse, they reflect reliance on a type of navigation that serves the animals quite well in most situations.” — Daniel Schacter It’s easy to get a little down on our poor brains. Not so fast. The very pervasiveness of memory’s imperfections, amply illustrated in the preceding pages, can easily lead to the conclusion that Mother Nature committed colossal blunders in burdening us with such a dysfunctional system.