Cognitive
Googling Gives Illusion of Knowledge Even When The Search Reveals Nothing!
May 31, 2015
Even when an internet search is unsuccessful, people feel they know more. Searching the internet makes people feel they know more than they really do, a new study finds. And it doesn’t seem to matter much that people don’t actually find the information for which they were searching. Matthew Fisher, who led the research, said: “The Internet is such a powerful environment, where you can enter any question, and you basically have access to the world’s knowledge at your fingertips. It...
May 31, 2015
Even when an internet search is unsuccessful, people feel they know more. Searching the internet makes people feel they know more than they really do, a new study finds. And it doesn’t seem to matter much that people don’t actually find the information for which they were searching. Matthew Fisher, who led the research, said: “The Internet is such a powerful environment, where you can enter any question, and you basically have access to the world’s knowledge at your fingertips. It...
Dan Ariely’s Irrationally Yours: Predictably Amusing
May 31, 2015
Dan Ariely, an author and scientist we’ve featured often here, is back with a new book: Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pickup Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles. Irrationally Yours is full of fun, laced with quick lessons in psychology and the science of human behavior. As we enter beach season, take Ariely’s book with you instead of the latest thriller or romance. Or, listen to the audio version on your long and unpredictable commute to your office. (My preferred method for coping...
May 31, 2015
Dan Ariely, an author and scientist we’ve featured often here, is back with a new book: Irrationally Yours: On Missing Socks, Pickup Lines, and Other Existential Puzzles. Irrationally Yours is full of fun, laced with quick lessons in psychology and the science of human behavior. As we enter beach season, take Ariely’s book with you instead of the latest thriller or romance. Or, listen to the audio version on your long and unpredictable commute to your office. (My preferred method for coping...
Empathy Vs Sympathy
May 30, 2015
In 1909, the psychologist Edward Titchener translated the German Einfühlung (‘feeling into’) into English as ‘empathy’. Empathy can be defined as a person’s ability to recognize and share the emotions of another person, fictional character, or sentient being. It involves, first, seeing someone else’s situation from his perspective, and, second, sharing his emotions, including, if any, his distress. For me to share in someone else’s perspective, I must do more than merely put myself...
May 30, 2015
In 1909, the psychologist Edward Titchener translated the German Einfühlung (‘feeling into’) into English as ‘empathy’. Empathy can be defined as a person’s ability to recognize and share the emotions of another person, fictional character, or sentient being. It involves, first, seeing someone else’s situation from his perspective, and, second, sharing his emotions, including, if any, his distress. For me to share in someone else’s perspective, I must do more than merely put myself...
Does the Science of Self-Control Diminish Our Self-Control?
May 30, 2015
In 1998, the psychologist Roy Baumeister introduced the “strength” model of self-control. It’s a slightly misleading name, since the model attempts to describe the weakness of the will, why people so easily succumb to temptation and impulse. In Baumeister’s influential paper – it’s since been cited more than 2500 times – he and colleagues describe several simple experiments that expose our mental frailties. In one trial, subjects forced to eat radishes instead of chocolate candies gave...
May 30, 2015
In 1998, the psychologist Roy Baumeister introduced the “strength” model of self-control. It’s a slightly misleading name, since the model attempts to describe the weakness of the will, why people so easily succumb to temptation and impulse. In Baumeister’s influential paper – it’s since been cited more than 2500 times – he and colleagues describe several simple experiments that expose our mental frailties. In one trial, subjects forced to eat radishes instead of chocolate candies gave...
Epstein on Incomplete Contracts
May 29, 2015
Wendy Netter Epstein (DePaul University - College of Law) has posted Facilitating Incomplete Contracts (Case Western Reserve Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Contract law abhors incompleteness. Although no contract can be entirely complete, the idea of a purposefully incomplete or underspecified contract is antithetical to lawyers’ ideals of certainty for the parties and for the law. Indeed, contract law is designed to incentivize parties to specifically articulate...
May 29, 2015
Wendy Netter Epstein (DePaul University - College of Law) has posted Facilitating Incomplete Contracts (Case Western Reserve Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Contract law abhors incompleteness. Although no contract can be entirely complete, the idea of a purposefully incomplete or underspecified contract is antithetical to lawyers’ ideals of certainty for the parties and for the law. Indeed, contract law is designed to incentivize parties to specifically articulate...
Schweizer on Proportionality & Nudging
May 28, 2015
Mark Schweizer (Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) has posted Nudging and the Principle of Proportionality (Klaus Mathis (ed.), Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship, Springer (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: While the ethics and politics of nudging have received a great deal of attention, the legality of non-coercive interventions aimed at changing human behavior has received less attention....
May 28, 2015
Mark Schweizer (Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) has posted Nudging and the Principle of Proportionality (Klaus Mathis (ed.), Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship, Springer (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: While the ethics and politics of nudging have received a great deal of attention, the legality of non-coercive interventions aimed at changing human behavior has received less attention....
Understand the 4 Components of Influence
May 28, 2015
The second aspect of influence is emotion, and using it is one way to counteract positional power, and generally to dominate a conversation. When the other side has the power and you have the emotion, something closer to parity is possible. Indeed, passion can sweep away authority, when it’s well supported and the speaker is well prepared. We’ve all witnessed that happen when a young unknown performer disarms and woos the judges, devastating the competition, in one of those talent competitions. ...
May 28, 2015
The second aspect of influence is emotion, and using it is one way to counteract positional power, and generally to dominate a conversation. When the other side has the power and you have the emotion, something closer to parity is possible. Indeed, passion can sweep away authority, when it’s well supported and the speaker is well prepared. We’ve all witnessed that happen when a young unknown performer disarms and woos the judges, devastating the competition, in one of those talent competitions. ...
Checkmate: Early Moves Define Negotiation
May 27, 2015
The Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas recently published Don Philbin’s article entitled “Checkmate: Early Moves Define Negotiation Outcomes” in its newsletter. In his article, the Chair of the Texas Bar’sADR Section discusses the insight predictive analytics can provide to negotiators. According to Mr. Philbin, negotiations typically follow predictable social conventions and, much like chess, the first few moves are likely to set the board. In addition, advanced analytics suggest: Anchoring...
May 27, 2015
The Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas recently published Don Philbin’s article entitled “Checkmate: Early Moves Define Negotiation Outcomes” in its newsletter. In his article, the Chair of the Texas Bar’sADR Section discusses the insight predictive analytics can provide to negotiators. According to Mr. Philbin, negotiations typically follow predictable social conventions and, much like chess, the first few moves are likely to set the board. In addition, advanced analytics suggest: Anchoring...
Networking When You Hate Talking to Strangers
May 24, 2015
The power of serendipity is hot in business circles. Silicon Valley campuses have been constructed to foster more “random collisions.” One key to creativity, many thinkers say, is unexpected interactions. “Create spaces where you’re wandering around and exposing yourself to new people,” John Hagel of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge told me in an interview. And venture capitalist Anthony Tjan and his colleagues conducted an expansive survey of entrepreneurs that revealed a quarter of them...
May 24, 2015
The power of serendipity is hot in business circles. Silicon Valley campuses have been constructed to foster more “random collisions.” One key to creativity, many thinkers say, is unexpected interactions. “Create spaces where you’re wandering around and exposing yourself to new people,” John Hagel of Deloitte’s Center for the Edge told me in an interview. And venture capitalist Anthony Tjan and his colleagues conducted an expansive survey of entrepreneurs that revealed a quarter of them...
Don’t Let Emotions Screw Up Your Decisions
May 21, 2015
Think about a time you were weighing an important decision at work or considering a big expense such as a buying a house, making a hefty financial investment, or a starting a new business. Such decisions are inherently complex, and — no matter how much experience we have making them — working through the pros and cons of each choice can be overwhelming. Our emotional reactions to these choices may be useful in directing our attention and energy toward what we feel are the most important aspects...
May 21, 2015
Think about a time you were weighing an important decision at work or considering a big expense such as a buying a house, making a hefty financial investment, or a starting a new business. Such decisions are inherently complex, and — no matter how much experience we have making them — working through the pros and cons of each choice can be overwhelming. Our emotional reactions to these choices may be useful in directing our attention and energy toward what we feel are the most important aspects...
