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Psychology
The Single Reason Why People Can’t Write, According to a Harvard Psychologist
November 30, 2019
Here's the subtitle: "This common affliction is behind so much unclear and confusing writing in the world today." That's better. Excerpts: "For Pinker, the root cause of so much bad writing is what he calls "the Curse of Knowledge", which he defines as "a difficulty in imagining what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know. The curse of knowledge is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad prose." The solution: "How can we lift...
November 30, 2019
Here's the subtitle: "This common affliction is behind so much unclear and confusing writing in the world today." That's better. Excerpts: "For Pinker, the root cause of so much bad writing is what he calls "the Curse of Knowledge", which he defines as "a difficulty in imagining what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know. The curse of knowledge is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad prose." The solution: "How can we lift...
Law Students, Comedians, And Mental Health
November 23, 2019
Last night, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law hosted the first public screening of Laughing Matters, a documentary about comedians and mental health by Soul Pancake, the production company of actor/comedian Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office). In light of the shocking statistics on the mental health of college students (pages 13-16) and graduate and professional students (pages 13-16), Pepperdine President Jim Gash has made student mental health and well-being one of his three...
November 23, 2019
Last night, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law hosted the first public screening of Laughing Matters, a documentary about comedians and mental health by Soul Pancake, the production company of actor/comedian Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office). In light of the shocking statistics on the mental health of college students (pages 13-16) and graduate and professional students (pages 13-16), Pepperdine President Jim Gash has made student mental health and well-being one of his three...
Fragile Self-Esteem
November 16, 2019
We develop a model of fragile self-esteem — self-esteem that is vulnerable to objectively unjustified swings — and study its implications for choices that depend on, or are aimed to protect, one's self-view. We assume that a person's self-esteem is determined by sampling from his store of ego-relevant memories in a fashion that in turn depends on his self-esteem. This feedback mechanism can create multiple "self-esteem personal equilibria,'' making self-esteem fragile. Self-esteem is especially...
November 16, 2019
We develop a model of fragile self-esteem — self-esteem that is vulnerable to objectively unjustified swings — and study its implications for choices that depend on, or are aimed to protect, one's self-view. We assume that a person's self-esteem is determined by sampling from his store of ego-relevant memories in a fashion that in turn depends on his self-esteem. This feedback mechanism can create multiple "self-esteem personal equilibria,'' making self-esteem fragile. Self-esteem is especially...
Overcoming Impasse in Mediation
November 12, 2019
Why are we at Impasse? First, mediators must appreciate why lawyers and their clients are struggling with these...
November 12, 2019
Why are we at Impasse? First, mediators must appreciate why lawyers and their clients are struggling with these...
Negotiating the American Constitution (1787-1789) Coalitions, Process Rules, and Compromises
November 11, 2019
This essay describes the multi-party, multi-issue negotiations of the American Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia...
November 11, 2019
This essay describes the multi-party, multi-issue negotiations of the American Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia...
If you are going to mediate, be happy!
October 31, 2019
Clearly, the mood of the “negotiator” affected how much or little she “trusted” the other party. More notably,...
October 31, 2019
Clearly, the mood of the “negotiator” affected how much or little she “trusted” the other party. More notably,...
Psychological Barriers to Resolving Intergroup Conflict: An Extensive Review and Consolidation of the Literature
October 23, 2019
This article reviews over sixty years of research on psychological barriers to intergroup conflict resolution and finds that scholars have identified eighty nominally different barriers that create or exacerbate intergroup conflict. In order to create a tractable list that would be more helpful to future scholars and practitioners, we consolidate this vast literature (e.g., by eliminating substantive and conceptual redundancies) to produce a list of twenty‐six “unique” psychological barriers....
October 23, 2019
This article reviews over sixty years of research on psychological barriers to intergroup conflict resolution and finds that scholars have identified eighty nominally different barriers that create or exacerbate intergroup conflict. In order to create a tractable list that would be more helpful to future scholars and practitioners, we consolidate this vast literature (e.g., by eliminating substantive and conceptual redundancies) to produce a list of twenty‐six “unique” psychological barriers....
The Surprising Benefits – and Risks – of Trash Talk
October 13, 2019
Incredibly, those who had been the targets of trash-talking performed significantly better than those who hadn’t. “That’s interesting because though we tend to think of it as being a way of intimidating another person, and diminishing their performance, what we’re finding is that when you’re the recipient of trash talk, you become extra motivated to outperform your opponent,” says Yip. Oddly, this is the only consequence of the technique that people seem to be able to predict. When...
October 13, 2019
Incredibly, those who had been the targets of trash-talking performed significantly better than those who hadn’t. “That’s interesting because though we tend to think of it as being a way of intimidating another person, and diminishing their performance, what we’re finding is that when you’re the recipient of trash talk, you become extra motivated to outperform your opponent,” says Yip. Oddly, this is the only consequence of the technique that people seem to be able to predict. When...
Optimism Key to Living Longer? This Study Says So
September 28, 2019
A study of more than 69,000 female health professionals ages 58 to 86, and more than 1,400 male veterans ages 41 to 90, who were followed for 10 to 30 years, concluded that a sunny disposition may indeed lengthen your life. The participants who reported the highest levels of optimism were 50% to 70% more likely to live to age 85 or beyond. The results were steady even when researchers took into account other factors including health conditions such as heart disease, cancer or depression. But other...
September 28, 2019
A study of more than 69,000 female health professionals ages 58 to 86, and more than 1,400 male veterans ages 41 to 90, who were followed for 10 to 30 years, concluded that a sunny disposition may indeed lengthen your life. The participants who reported the highest levels of optimism were 50% to 70% more likely to live to age 85 or beyond. The results were steady even when researchers took into account other factors including health conditions such as heart disease, cancer or depression. But other...
Stamina Succeeds
September 20, 2019
You Need the Stamina and Mindset of a Professional Athlete to Make It in Business (more)a reminder that success takes stamina, and you get stamina by training and experience (more) It wasn’t until my mid-30s that I finally got to see some very successful people up close for long enough to notice a strong pattern: the most successful have a lot more energy and stamina than do others. Which was a disappointment, as I could clearly see that I didn’t have as much stamina as they. The...
September 20, 2019
You Need the Stamina and Mindset of a Professional Athlete to Make It in Business (more)a reminder that success takes stamina, and you get stamina by training and experience (more) It wasn’t until my mid-30s that I finally got to see some very successful people up close for long enough to notice a strong pattern: the most successful have a lot more energy and stamina than do others. Which was a disappointment, as I could clearly see that I didn’t have as much stamina as they. The...
