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Cognitive
Great Neural Plasticity Video – Hard to Overcome Learned Bias
May 18, 2015
Engineer shows how hard it is to overcome a System 1 learned program with new information. Be patient in mediation!
May 18, 2015
Engineer shows how hard it is to overcome a System 1 learned program with new information. Be patient in mediation!
A Clear View of the Brain
May 15, 2015
Increasingly, neuroscientists believe that the key to understanding how the brain works lies in its over-all neural circuitry, and the way that widely separated brain regions communicate through the long-range projection of nerve fibres. In this view, mental disorders result from the shorting-out or disruption of the larger circuit wiring of the brain—and it is in defining and describing those circuit connections that Deisseroth’s innovations promise to be especially helpful. Christof Koch,...
May 15, 2015
Increasingly, neuroscientists believe that the key to understanding how the brain works lies in its over-all neural circuitry, and the way that widely separated brain regions communicate through the long-range projection of nerve fibres. In this view, mental disorders result from the shorting-out or disruption of the larger circuit wiring of the brain—and it is in defining and describing those circuit connections that Deisseroth’s innovations promise to be especially helpful. Christof Koch,...
The Neuroscience of Comedy
May 10, 2015
Successful humor often involves distorting our assumptions, and more specifically our “scripts” – these are “hypotheses about the world and how it works based on our previous life experiences.” Richard Restak explains: “It is the brain’s frontal lobes that make sense of the discrepancy between the script and the situation described by the joke or illustrated by the cartoon. This ability is unique to our species… We are the only creatures that possess a highly evolved working memory,...
May 10, 2015
Successful humor often involves distorting our assumptions, and more specifically our “scripts” – these are “hypotheses about the world and how it works based on our previous life experiences.” Richard Restak explains: “It is the brain’s frontal lobes that make sense of the discrepancy between the script and the situation described by the joke or illustrated by the cartoon. This ability is unique to our species… We are the only creatures that possess a highly evolved working memory,...
Unless You Are Spock, Irrelevant Things Matter in Economic Behavior
May 10, 2015
Early in my teaching career I managed to get most of the students in my class mad at me. A midterm exam caused the problem. I wanted the exam to sort out the stars, the average Joes and the duds, so it had to be hard and have a wide dispersion of scores. I succeeded in writing such an exam, but when the students got their results they were in an uproar. Their principal complaint was that the average score was only 72 points out of 100. What was odd about this reaction was that I had already...
May 10, 2015
Early in my teaching career I managed to get most of the students in my class mad at me. A midterm exam caused the problem. I wanted the exam to sort out the stars, the average Joes and the duds, so it had to be hard and have a wide dispersion of scores. I succeeded in writing such an exam, but when the students got their results they were in an uproar. Their principal complaint was that the average score was only 72 points out of 100. What was odd about this reaction was that I had already...
Psychology for Lawyers
May 3, 2015
Law professors Jean Sternlight and Jennifer Robbennolt explain how, through various psychology techniques, you can become...
May 3, 2015
Law professors Jean Sternlight and Jennifer Robbennolt explain how, through various psychology techniques, you can become...
After Laughing, People More Willing To Share Personal Details
May 1, 2015
As a theatrical improviser, I’ve experienced workshops and shows where, after initial horseplay, people who hardly know each other share intimate autobiographical details, sometimes on a brightly lit stage. Where does this striking willingness to be vulnerable arrive from? New research suggests that part of the answer may be that the act of laughter encourages personal disclosure: we chuckle out our secrets. At the start of Alan Gray’s study, groups of four participants watched a video to influence...
May 1, 2015
As a theatrical improviser, I’ve experienced workshops and shows where, after initial horseplay, people who hardly know each other share intimate autobiographical details, sometimes on a brightly lit stage. Where does this striking willingness to be vulnerable arrive from? New research suggests that part of the answer may be that the act of laughter encourages personal disclosure: we chuckle out our secrets. At the start of Alan Gray’s study, groups of four participants watched a video to influence...
Time Pressure Improves Decision Making
April 30, 2015
A new simulation of a complex, realistic disaster event suggests that time pressure facilitates better decision-making among emergency responders. The two-day training exercise, overseen by Liverpool’s Centre for Critical and Major Incident Psychology, looked at the impact of a hypothetical aeroplane crash over a city. Nearly two hundred professionals were split into different rooms based on the agency they belonged to (14 agencies in all, including police, transport, health and science advisors),...
April 30, 2015
A new simulation of a complex, realistic disaster event suggests that time pressure facilitates better decision-making among emergency responders. The two-day training exercise, overseen by Liverpool’s Centre for Critical and Major Incident Psychology, looked at the impact of a hypothetical aeroplane crash over a city. Nearly two hundred professionals were split into different rooms based on the agency they belonged to (14 agencies in all, including police, transport, health and science advisors),...
Confirmation Bias: How Intelligent People Develop Totally Incorrect Beliefs
April 29, 2015
Study debunks long-held myth probably arising from the confirmation bias. The fact that intelligent people continue to believe in things like this is at least partly down to the ‘confirmation bias‘. It arises because people search for information that confirms their view of the world and ignore what doesn’t fit. People do it automatically, usually without realising. It’s easier to see evidence for a pet theory than imagining a new picture. It also helps people view themselves...
April 29, 2015
Study debunks long-held myth probably arising from the confirmation bias. The fact that intelligent people continue to believe in things like this is at least partly down to the ‘confirmation bias‘. It arises because people search for information that confirms their view of the world and ignore what doesn’t fit. People do it automatically, usually without realising. It’s easier to see evidence for a pet theory than imagining a new picture. It also helps people view themselves...
Visual Illusions Foster Open-Mindedness
April 24, 2015
From sworn witness accounts of alien visitations, to deep-rooted trust in quack medical treatments, the human trait that...
April 24, 2015
From sworn witness accounts of alien visitations, to deep-rooted trust in quack medical treatments, the human trait that...
Test Yourself: Are You Being Tricked by Intuition?
April 21, 2015
What's your default mode for judgments and decisions? To find out, take this (very short) cognitive-reflection test, which was created by Shane Frederick at Yale and originally appeared in The Journal of Economic Perspectives. At the end, you’ll receive feedback on your answers and gain insight into how you arrived at them. Doug Noll and I do a deep dive into impact in mediation at Pepperdine: http://law.pepperdine.edu/straus/training-and-conferences/professional-skills-program/malibu/tactical-interventions.htm
April 21, 2015
What's your default mode for judgments and decisions? To find out, take this (very short) cognitive-reflection test, which was created by Shane Frederick at Yale and originally appeared in The Journal of Economic Perspectives. At the end, you’ll receive feedback on your answers and gain insight into how you arrived at them. Doug Noll and I do a deep dive into impact in mediation at Pepperdine: http://law.pepperdine.edu/straus/training-and-conferences/professional-skills-program/malibu/tactical-interventions.htm
