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Cognitive
Those With High Scores On A Psychopath Test Are Better At Creative Thinking, The Arts
June 21, 2016
A new study by researchers at De La Salle University in the Philippines suggests those with psychopathic tendencies are often...
June 21, 2016
A new study by researchers at De La Salle University in the Philippines suggests those with psychopathic tendencies are often...
Soon We Won’t Program Computers. We’ll Train Them Like Dogs
June 19, 2016
Before the invention of the computer, most experimental psychologists thought the brain was an unknowable black box. You could analyze a subject’s behavior—ring bell, dog salivates—but thoughts, memories, emotions? That stuff was obscure and inscrutable, beyond the reach of science. So these behaviorists, as they called themselves, confined their work to the study of stimulus and response, feedback and reinforcement, bells and saliva. They gave up trying to understand the inner workings of the mind....
June 19, 2016
Before the invention of the computer, most experimental psychologists thought the brain was an unknowable black box. You could analyze a subject’s behavior—ring bell, dog salivates—but thoughts, memories, emotions? That stuff was obscure and inscrutable, beyond the reach of science. So these behaviorists, as they called themselves, confined their work to the study of stimulus and response, feedback and reinforcement, bells and saliva. They gave up trying to understand the inner workings of the mind....
New Evidence for the Necessity of Loneliness
June 19, 2016
According to John Cacioppo, the director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, the reason humans developed such powerful social groups is because the pain of being alone motivates individuals to seek companionship. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology think they may have found the source of that motivation in a group of little-studied neurons in part of the brain called the dorsal raphe nucleus, best known for its link to depression....
June 19, 2016
According to John Cacioppo, the director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, the reason humans developed such powerful social groups is because the pain of being alone motivates individuals to seek companionship. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology think they may have found the source of that motivation in a group of little-studied neurons in part of the brain called the dorsal raphe nucleus, best known for its link to depression....
When It Comes To The Future, Google Doesn’t Need To Be First
June 18, 2016
The search giant’s annual developer conference revealed that Google is playing catch-up to its Big Tech competitors and it doesn’t seem to care one bit. Today, Google convened 7,000 developers and journalists at a popular outdoor concert venue in Silicon Valley and gave a two-hour state of the union on the future of arguably the most powerful and ambitious company in the world. In front of a packed crowd and tens of thousands watching via live stream, the company brought its best...
June 18, 2016
The search giant’s annual developer conference revealed that Google is playing catch-up to its Big Tech competitors and it doesn’t seem to care one bit. Today, Google convened 7,000 developers and journalists at a popular outdoor concert venue in Silicon Valley and gave a two-hour state of the union on the future of arguably the most powerful and ambitious company in the world. In front of a packed crowd and tens of thousands watching via live stream, the company brought its best...
Meta-Mindfulness: A New Hope by Peter H. Huang
June 17, 2016
"This Essay starts by tracing its origins to an earlier Article, Tiger Cub Strikes Back: Memoirs of an Ex-Child Prodigy About Legal Education and Parenting. This Essay then analyzes mindfulness about mindfulness. This Essay discusses how mindfulness can facilitate and foster positivity in the personal and professional transformative journeys that law students embark on in law school and law practice. Part of that discussion includes an email from a student in Torts I, an email from a student in Economic...
June 17, 2016
"This Essay starts by tracing its origins to an earlier Article, Tiger Cub Strikes Back: Memoirs of an Ex-Child Prodigy About Legal Education and Parenting. This Essay then analyzes mindfulness about mindfulness. This Essay discusses how mindfulness can facilitate and foster positivity in the personal and professional transformative journeys that law students embark on in law school and law practice. Part of that discussion includes an email from a student in Torts I, an email from a student in Economic...
The Two Most Important Things for a Good First Impression
June 12, 2016
Harvard Business School professor and social psychologist Amy Cuddy has been studying first impressions for many years and has learned that there are two key things that people ask themselves (usually subconsciously) when first evaluating a new person: Can I trust this person? Can I respect this person? These questions can be boiled down to two traits: Warmth and competence. Having a warm personality lets people know they can trust you. Showing confidence and competence in your skills...
June 12, 2016
Harvard Business School professor and social psychologist Amy Cuddy has been studying first impressions for many years and has learned that there are two key things that people ask themselves (usually subconsciously) when first evaluating a new person: Can I trust this person? Can I respect this person? These questions can be boiled down to two traits: Warmth and competence. Having a warm personality lets people know they can trust you. Showing confidence and competence in your skills...
Quest for Robo-Yellen Advances as Computers Gain on Rate Setters
June 12, 2016
Move over Janet Yellen, automation in the workplace is about to get personal. Instead of relying on the Federal Reserve chair, imagine using a computer to transform mountains of raw economic data into reliable predictions for unemployment, inflation and gross domestic product. What’s the best level for the federal funds rate? “The capability is here,” says Andrew Lo, director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, near Boston. “The...
June 12, 2016
Move over Janet Yellen, automation in the workplace is about to get personal. Instead of relying on the Federal Reserve chair, imagine using a computer to transform mountains of raw economic data into reliable predictions for unemployment, inflation and gross domestic product. What’s the best level for the federal funds rate? “The capability is here,” says Andrew Lo, director of the Laboratory for Financial Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, near Boston. “The...
Risk Taking: It is a Matter of Biology
June 8, 2016
Are you a risk taker? Or, are you a risk averter? According to a recent article in the New York Times (Rats That Tend to Gamble Help Reveal Science of Risk by Pam Belluck, March 24, 2016 at page A21), the answer lies in a specific type of neuron or nerve cell in the brain. That is, you are hard wired to love risk or to hate it. But, modern science can also manipulate that neuron to turn the risk taker into a risk avoider. In a study conducted on rats by Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a Stanford neuroscientist...
June 8, 2016
Are you a risk taker? Or, are you a risk averter? According to a recent article in the New York Times (Rats That Tend to Gamble Help Reveal Science of Risk by Pam Belluck, March 24, 2016 at page A21), the answer lies in a specific type of neuron or nerve cell in the brain. That is, you are hard wired to love risk or to hate it. But, modern science can also manipulate that neuron to turn the risk taker into a risk avoider. In a study conducted on rats by Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a Stanford neuroscientist...
A Call for Feedback on the Use of Joint Session v. Caucus
June 6, 2016
How do mediators actually work? Tom’s recent article titled “Insights on Mediator Practices and Perceptions,” outlines three areas of apparent regional divergence in mediation practice, arising out of the 2014 survey conducted by the IAM and the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine School of Law. The divergent areas include: (1) the relative use of joint session and caucus in mediation; (2) the way in which mediators handle information divulged by the parties in caucus; and (3) the extent...
June 6, 2016
How do mediators actually work? Tom’s recent article titled “Insights on Mediator Practices and Perceptions,” outlines three areas of apparent regional divergence in mediation practice, arising out of the 2014 survey conducted by the IAM and the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine School of Law. The divergent areas include: (1) the relative use of joint session and caucus in mediation; (2) the way in which mediators handle information divulged by the parties in caucus; and (3) the extent...
You Can’t Speed Read Without Hurting Comprehension
June 4, 2016
NY Times Sorry You Can't Speed Read by Jeffrey M. Zacks & Rebecca Treiman. "Unfortunately, the scientific consensus suggests that such enterprises should be viewed with suspicion. In a recent article in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, one of us (Professor Treiman) and colleagues reviewed the empirical literature on reading and concluded that it’s extremely unlikely you can greatly improve your reading speed without missing out on a lot of meaning." "Techniques that aim to guide...
June 4, 2016
NY Times Sorry You Can't Speed Read by Jeffrey M. Zacks & Rebecca Treiman. "Unfortunately, the scientific consensus suggests that such enterprises should be viewed with suspicion. In a recent article in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, one of us (Professor Treiman) and colleagues reviewed the empirical literature on reading and concluded that it’s extremely unlikely you can greatly improve your reading speed without missing out on a lot of meaning." "Techniques that aim to guide...
