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Cognitive
How Long Have We Been Chit Chatting?
March 25, 2016
You may find this hard to believe but there are some head strong attorneys out there. As much as an attorney, or an opposing...
March 25, 2016
You may find this hard to believe but there are some head strong attorneys out there. As much as an attorney, or an opposing...
Why Do Smart People Make Bad Decisions?
March 24, 2016
There are many reasons why intelligent, reasonable people make bad decisions. One of those reasons is that a decision may be more...
March 24, 2016
There are many reasons why intelligent, reasonable people make bad decisions. One of those reasons is that a decision may be more...
Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!
March 21, 2016
Knowing the truth and being able to tell when someone is lying would make an attorney’s job much easier. You need not speculate as to who is telling the truth or trust your “gut” when it comes to piecing together what actually happened. Speaking and hearing the truth would make negotiations and mediations much more straightforward. Researchers at the University of Michigan – Flint are creating software to help separate those telling lies from those telling the truth, according to The Michigan...
March 21, 2016
Knowing the truth and being able to tell when someone is lying would make an attorney’s job much easier. You need not speculate as to who is telling the truth or trust your “gut” when it comes to piecing together what actually happened. Speaking and hearing the truth would make negotiations and mediations much more straightforward. Researchers at the University of Michigan – Flint are creating software to help separate those telling lies from those telling the truth, according to The Michigan...
Neuroprediction: New Technology, Old Problems
March 19, 2016
Neuroprediction is the use of structural or functional brain or nervous system variables to make any type of prediction, including medical prognoses and behavioral forecasts, such as an indicator of future dangerous behavior. This commentary will focus on behavioral predictions, but the analysis applies to any context. The general thesis is that using neurovariables for prediction is a new technology, but that it raises no new ethical issues, at least for now. Only if neuroscience achieves the ability...
March 19, 2016
Neuroprediction is the use of structural or functional brain or nervous system variables to make any type of prediction, including medical prognoses and behavioral forecasts, such as an indicator of future dangerous behavior. This commentary will focus on behavioral predictions, but the analysis applies to any context. The general thesis is that using neurovariables for prediction is a new technology, but that it raises no new ethical issues, at least for now. Only if neuroscience achieves the ability...
Prospect Theory and Stock Returns: An Empirical Test
March 19, 2016
We test the hypothesis that, when thinking about allocating money to a stock, investors mentally represent the stock by the distribution...
March 19, 2016
We test the hypothesis that, when thinking about allocating money to a stock, investors mentally represent the stock by the distribution...
Trust and Collaboration in the Aftermath of Conflict: The Effects of Contract Structure
March 15, 2016
Leveraging a longitudinal dataset concerning 102 inter-firm disputes, we evaluate the effects of contract structure on trust...
March 15, 2016
Leveraging a longitudinal dataset concerning 102 inter-firm disputes, we evaluate the effects of contract structure on trust...
Four Villains of Decision Making
March 14, 2016
I’ve been reading the latest book by Dan Heath and Chip Heath, Decisive. (They have written two other great books: Made to Stick and Switch.) Many great insights are offered in this book that pertain to decision making and also applicable to how we resolve disputes. I’ll focus on the importance of choosing a good process. Excerpts from Decisive are in quotations. Decisive identifies “four villains of decision making” – narrow framing, confirmation bias, short-term emotion and overconfidence,...
March 14, 2016
I’ve been reading the latest book by Dan Heath and Chip Heath, Decisive. (They have written two other great books: Made to Stick and Switch.) Many great insights are offered in this book that pertain to decision making and also applicable to how we resolve disputes. I’ll focus on the importance of choosing a good process. Excerpts from Decisive are in quotations. Decisive identifies “four villains of decision making” – narrow framing, confirmation bias, short-term emotion and overconfidence,...
IBM’s Watson Can Sense Sadness in Your Writing
March 13, 2016
The AI just got a big emotion-detecting upgrade. Artificial intelligence won't be truly convincing until it can understand emotions. What good is a robot that can't understand the nuances of what you're really saying? IBM thinks it can help, though. It just gave Watson an upgrade that includes a much-improved Tone Analyzer. The AI now detects a wide range of emotions in your writing, including joy or sadness. If you tell everyone that you're fine when you're really down in the dumps, Watson should...
March 13, 2016
The AI just got a big emotion-detecting upgrade. Artificial intelligence won't be truly convincing until it can understand emotions. What good is a robot that can't understand the nuances of what you're really saying? IBM thinks it can help, though. It just gave Watson an upgrade that includes a much-improved Tone Analyzer. The AI now detects a wide range of emotions in your writing, including joy or sadness. If you tell everyone that you're fine when you're really down in the dumps, Watson should...
Humor Production and Perceptions of Psychological Health
March 12, 2016
Funny people — comedians, class clowns, and pranksters — often seem troubled. But are they? Though an argument can be made either way, we suggest that trying to be funny can cause people to seem psychologically unhealthy regardless of their actual psychological health. We derive our predictions from the benign violation theory of humor, which proposes amusement arises from the perception that something is wrong yet okay. Accordingly, acting non-normatively enhances humor as long as the behavior...
March 12, 2016
Funny people — comedians, class clowns, and pranksters — often seem troubled. But are they? Though an argument can be made either way, we suggest that trying to be funny can cause people to seem psychologically unhealthy regardless of their actual psychological health. We derive our predictions from the benign violation theory of humor, which proposes amusement arises from the perception that something is wrong yet okay. Accordingly, acting non-normatively enhances humor as long as the behavior...
The Fastest Way To Learn
March 9, 2016
Practice makes perfect: One of those clichés that gets endlessly trotted out, told to children at the piano and point guards shooting from behind the arc. It applies to multiplication tables and stickshifts, sex and writing. And the line is true, even if it overpromises. Perfection might be impossible, but practice is the only way to get close. Unfortunately, the cliche is limited by its imprecision. What kind of practice makes perfect? And what aspects of practice are most valuable? Is it the repetition?...
March 9, 2016
Practice makes perfect: One of those clichés that gets endlessly trotted out, told to children at the piano and point guards shooting from behind the arc. It applies to multiplication tables and stickshifts, sex and writing. And the line is true, even if it overpromises. Perfection might be impossible, but practice is the only way to get close. Unfortunately, the cliche is limited by its imprecision. What kind of practice makes perfect? And what aspects of practice are most valuable? Is it the repetition?...
