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Cognitive
Another Study on Gain v. Loss Framing Effects
March 9, 2016
People focusing on losing a reward rather than gaining it are more motivated to exercise, a new study finds. The research shows that exactly the same financial rewards can produce markedly different levels of motivation when framed in different ways. Professor Kevin G. Volpp, one of the study’s authors, said: “Our findings demonstrate that the potential of losing a reward is a more powerful motivator and adds important knowledge to our understanding of how to use financial incentives to encourage...
March 9, 2016
People focusing on losing a reward rather than gaining it are more motivated to exercise, a new study finds. The research shows that exactly the same financial rewards can produce markedly different levels of motivation when framed in different ways. Professor Kevin G. Volpp, one of the study’s authors, said: “Our findings demonstrate that the potential of losing a reward is a more powerful motivator and adds important knowledge to our understanding of how to use financial incentives to encourage...
Psychologists Have Looked Into the Importance of Chitchat
March 8, 2016
Bryan Swider at Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his colleagues analysed the outcomes of mock interviews involving 163 accountancy students, who were rated by interviewers on their answers to 12 standardised questions. However, before the formal questioning period, the interviews began with a few minutes of rapport building, after which the interviewers noted down their first impressions. Did these preliminaries influence the overall interview scores? They...
March 8, 2016
Bryan Swider at Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his colleagues analysed the outcomes of mock interviews involving 163 accountancy students, who were rated by interviewers on their answers to 12 standardised questions. However, before the formal questioning period, the interviews began with a few minutes of rapport building, after which the interviewers noted down their first impressions. Did these preliminaries influence the overall interview scores? They...
Brain Automatically Prioritizes Good Memories
March 8, 2016
We can only recall a very small proportion of the memories we make each day. New research finds that rewarding memories are recalled preferentially because the brain replays them automatically when we are at rest. The brain prioritises rewards as they are important cues about future behaviour. Professor Charan Ranganath, one of the study’s authors, said: “Rewards help you remember things, because you want future rewards. The brain prioritizes memories that are going to be useful for future...
March 8, 2016
We can only recall a very small proportion of the memories we make each day. New research finds that rewarding memories are recalled preferentially because the brain replays them automatically when we are at rest. The brain prioritises rewards as they are important cues about future behaviour. Professor Charan Ranganath, one of the study’s authors, said: “Rewards help you remember things, because you want future rewards. The brain prioritizes memories that are going to be useful for future...
Intensive Meditation Training Seems to Enhance Compassion
March 7, 2016
Psychological research into meditation has overwhelmingly focused on its cognitive consequences, considering the practice as a kind of training for attention and behaviour control, together with stress alleviation. But contemplation traditions make far wider claims for meditation, such as that it helps practitioners cultivate concern for the welfare of others. A new study in the journal Emotion supports this perspective, using a rigorous measure of emotional response to show signs of enhanced compassion...
March 7, 2016
Psychological research into meditation has overwhelmingly focused on its cognitive consequences, considering the practice as a kind of training for attention and behaviour control, together with stress alleviation. But contemplation traditions make far wider claims for meditation, such as that it helps practitioners cultivate concern for the welfare of others. A new study in the journal Emotion supports this perspective, using a rigorous measure of emotional response to show signs of enhanced compassion...
Experts, Crowds & Algorithms: The Three Forms of (Legal) Prediction
March 6, 2016
About the talk: Lawyer’s obligations of competence will increasingly encompass the ability to meaningfully apply analytics...
March 6, 2016
About the talk: Lawyer’s obligations of competence will increasingly encompass the ability to meaningfully apply analytics...
Four Behaviors are the Most Reliable Predictors of Divorce
March 6, 2016
When the psychologists added questions about things like relationship satisfaction and how many times the research subjects had thoughts about separating to the mix, they could predict which marriages would end in divorce 93% of the time. The figure, which comes from a 14-year study of 79 couples living across the US Midwest (21 of whom divorced during the study period), was so striking it spurned the researchers to label the four behaviors "the four horsemen of the apocalypse."
March 6, 2016
When the psychologists added questions about things like relationship satisfaction and how many times the research subjects had thoughts about separating to the mix, they could predict which marriages would end in divorce 93% of the time. The figure, which comes from a 14-year study of 79 couples living across the US Midwest (21 of whom divorced during the study period), was so striking it spurned the researchers to label the four behaviors "the four horsemen of the apocalypse."
When Data Confounds Our Intuition
February 23, 2016
These blindspots confuse us. And when prompted with data that confounds our expectations, only 10% of the time will we trust the data rather than our intuition, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Decisive Actions: How Businesses Make Decisions report. 57% of the time, survey respondents would reanalyze the data to ensure no issue with data collection or math errors. Our ultimate goal with data is to defeat bias. In the “Philosophy of Data,” New York Times Op-Ed columnist David...
February 23, 2016
These blindspots confuse us. And when prompted with data that confounds our expectations, only 10% of the time will we trust the data rather than our intuition, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Decisive Actions: How Businesses Make Decisions report. 57% of the time, survey respondents would reanalyze the data to ensure no issue with data collection or math errors. Our ultimate goal with data is to defeat bias. In the “Philosophy of Data,” New York Times Op-Ed columnist David...
Software Detects CEO Emotions, Predicts Financial Performance
February 17, 2016
Computer programs that scan facial expressions have been used to detect whether people respond positively to commercials or whether hospital patients are in pain. Can they also read a CEO’s mind? James Cicon thinks they can. A finance professor at University of Central Missouri, Cicon built software that analyzed video of the faces of Fortune 500 executives for signs of emotions like fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. The emotions, he found, correlated with profit margins, returns on assets,...
February 17, 2016
Computer programs that scan facial expressions have been used to detect whether people respond positively to commercials or whether hospital patients are in pain. Can they also read a CEO’s mind? James Cicon thinks they can. A finance professor at University of Central Missouri, Cicon built software that analyzed video of the faces of Fortune 500 executives for signs of emotions like fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. The emotions, he found, correlated with profit margins, returns on assets,...
People Prefer System 2 Nudges (Kind Of)
February 16, 2016
In the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, those involved in law and policy have been exploring choice-preserving approaches, or “nudges,” informed by behavioral science and with the purpose of promoting important public policy goals, such as improved health and safety. But there is a large and insufficiently explored difference between System 1 nudges, which target or benefit from automatic processing, and System 2 nudges, which target or benefit from deliberative processing. Graphic...
February 16, 2016
In the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, those involved in law and policy have been exploring choice-preserving approaches, or “nudges,” informed by behavioral science and with the purpose of promoting important public policy goals, such as improved health and safety. But there is a large and insufficiently explored difference between System 1 nudges, which target or benefit from automatic processing, and System 2 nudges, which target or benefit from deliberative processing. Graphic...
6 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Charisma—Backed by Science
February 8, 2016
What research(link is external) shows, is that charisma is not so much a gift, that "it factor" that you either were born with or not. Charisma has a lot to do with the ability to be fully present. The study pointed to six elements of a charismatic person: 1. Empathy 2. Good listening skills 3. Eye contact 4. Enthusiasm 5. Self-confidence 6. Skillful speaking Charisma, simply put, is absolute presence.
February 8, 2016
What research(link is external) shows, is that charisma is not so much a gift, that "it factor" that you either were born with or not. Charisma has a lot to do with the ability to be fully present. The study pointed to six elements of a charismatic person: 1. Empathy 2. Good listening skills 3. Eye contact 4. Enthusiasm 5. Self-confidence 6. Skillful speaking Charisma, simply put, is absolute presence.
