Perception Since the rise of experimental psychology in the 19th Century, psychology's understanding of perception has progressed by combining a variety of techniques.[3] Psychophysics quantitatively describes the relationships between the physical qualities of the sensory input and perception.[5] Sensory neuroscience studies the brain mechanisms underlying perception. Perceptual systems can also be studied computationally, in terms of the information they process. Perceptual issues in philosophy include the extent to which sensory qualities such as sound, smell or color exist in objective reality rather than in the mind of the perceiver.[3] The perceptual systems of the brain enable individuals to see the world around them as stable, even though the sensory information is typically incomplete and rapidly varying. Human and animal brains are structured in a modular way, with different areas processing different kinds of sensory information. Process and terminology[edit] Perception and reality[edit]
38 Ways To Win An Argument—Arthur Schopenhauer - The India Uncut Blog - India Uncut For all of you who have ever been involved in an online debate in any way, Arthur Schopenhauer’s “38 Ways To Win An Argument” is indispensable. Most of these techniques will seem familiar to you, right from questioning the motive of a person making the argument instead of the argument itself (No. 35), exaggerating the propositions stated by the other person (No. 1) , misrepresenting the other person’s words (No. 2) and attacking a straw man instead (No. 3). It’s a full handbook of intellectual dishonesty there. Indeed, I generally avoid online debates because they inevitably degenerate to No. 38. The full text is below the fold. Many thanks to my friend Nitin Pai for reintroducing me to it. 38 Ways To Win An Argumentby Arthur Schopenhauer 1 Carry your opponent’s proposition beyond its natural limits; exaggerate it. Phew.
Gorilla Perfume at Lush Our amazing Solid Perfume video and 'installation' piece. View Article The inspiration and invention behind 25:43 perfume. View Article Feel like you're two hips short of a hooray? The Sweet Citrus in 1000 Kisses Deep. 9 Free Tools to Analyze and Improve Your Website Google + Guest article by Eva Vesper of Web Hosting Search. If you're running a web site you need to know how it is doing, in particular how you're performing against your competitors, and where you can improve. These useful tools will help you to monitor and (hopefully) improve the performance of your site according to generally recognized web site marketing criteria. SEOmoz Trifecta Page Strength Tool If you would like to measure the strength of a certain page on a site, blog, or an entire domain, then check out the SEOmoz Trifecta Page Strength Tool (free registration required). Based on various factors you will see your impact within your industry and can compare it to others. Popuri If you think it's a lot of hassle to use several different tools Popuri might be what you're looking for. Popuri allows you to get a variety of information — from PageRank to del.icio.us bookmarks — all at once. Raven SEO Analyzer Mint Mint is a web analytics tool somewhat similar to Google Analytics. Crazy Egg
Top 10 Common Faults In Human Thought Humans The human mind is a wonderful thing. Cognition, the act or process of thinking, enables us to process vast amounts of information quickly. For example, every time your eyes are open, you brain is constantly being bombarded with stimuli. The Gambler’s fallacy is the tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality, they are not. Reactivity is the tendency of people to act or appear differently when they know that they are being observed. Pareidolia is when random images or sounds are perceived as significant. Interesting Fact: the Rorschach Inkblot test was developed to use pareidolia to tap into people’s mental states. Self-fulfilling Prophecy Self-fulfilling prophecy is engaging in behaviors that obtain results that confirm existing attitudes. Interesting Fact: Economic Recessions are self-fulfilling prophecies. Herd mentality is the tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict.
Four Rules to Understand What Makes People Tick - Stepcase Lifehack Breaking down human behavior into rules might seem like a gross simplification. But even with the complexities, it is easy to fall into the same mistakes. I’d argue that many heated fights, lost sales and broken hearts are caused by a few critical errors. If you make the wrong assumptions, you’ve lost before you begin. By keeping in mind these rules, you can avoid repeating the same mistakes. Rule One: People Mostly Care About Themselves People aren’t thinking about you. I’ve used this example before but I believe it deserves repeating. Only a tiny sliver is devoted to empathy. This means that you occupy only a tiny percentage of a persons thoughts. Rule Two: People are Motivated by Selfish Altruism To say all behavior is strictly selfish would be misleading. By studying primates, researchers noticed four main categories of selfish altruism. Dominance - Some primates will give help as a way of asserting dominance in the group. Rule Three: People Don’t Think Much Applying the Four Rules
92 Ways to Get (and Maximize) Press Coverage I love Ben Affleck's first scene in the movie "Boiler Room." I always felt that the quote above perfectly relates to companies and press coverage. The ones who don’t get coverage will quickly dismiss it as useless and a waste of time and money to pursue, while the ones who regularly get coverage just smile and hope that you keep thinking that way... Over the last 12 years, I have been featured in hundreds of major newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs (everything ranging from the NY Times, USA Today and CNN to TechCrunch, Entrepreneur and so on), and I can tell you first-hand that it has helped me and my companies in an enormous way. It's brought me: Publicity (well duh, Chris!) Even more importantly, I have helped hundreds of businesses and friends get coverage. "Incidentally, your advice on PR in the past has been invaluable with [their domain] - PR is our biggest source of traffic by miles." I had no idea this was the case. Follow all of the reporters you’re targeting.
5 ways to make your content more shareable If you're disappointed people aren't sharing your content, you're not alone. You spend hours crafting content you think readers will love and then—crickets. There's good reason to want to fix that. Shareaholic's data—based on 200,000 websites that reach 300 million people each month—show that 32 percent of the traffic sent to our publisher websites last month was referral traffic. This is evidence of a change in content consumption behavior. It's now less about email and RSS subscriptions and more about people finding your content through social media. Even then, it's not all about the magic solution of social timing. While there isn't a strict recipe for content people love to share, there are some ways to identify what will work for your audience: 1. Before you try a new content marketing strategy, analyze what content worked best for you in the past so you can replicate success. You don't have to completely forget about your most successful posts once you write them. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Top 10 Thinking Traps Exposed Our minds set up many traps for us. Unless we’re aware of them, these traps can seriously hinder our ability to think rationally, leading us to bad reasoning and making stupid decisions. Features of our minds that are meant to help us may, eventually, get us into trouble. Here are the first 5 of the most harmful of these traps and how to avoid each one of them. 1. “Is the population of Turkey greater than 35 million? Lesson: Your starting point can heavily bias your thinking: initial impressions, ideas, estimates or data “anchor” subsequent thoughts. This trap is particularly dangerous as it’s deliberately used in many occasions, such as by experienced salesmen, who will show you a higher-priced item first, “anchoring” that price in your mind, for example. What can you do about it? Always view a problem from different perspectives. 2. In one experiment a group of people were randomly given one of two gifts — half received a decorated mug, the other half a large Swiss chocolate bar. 3. 4.
Who's Wearing the Pants? by Sylvia Martinez | 10/26/2011 Women are taking over the world, quite literally. From the corridors of colleges, universities and law schools to the arenas of construction and mining, the number of women has increased exponentially and organically. Individually, many of these statistics compiled by Educational Leadership.com are not surprising, but collectively, they paint a portrait of female power and suggest a bright future for women in the U.S. and across the globe. Women are not only wearing the pants, women rule! Created by: Educational Leadership 50 Awesome Posts on Email Marketing Learn the ins and outs of email marketing, including building your email list, crafting the best email content, email newsletter design, and more in this list of 50 awesome posts on email marketing from 2011. Yup, there’s 50 of them, and they’re all awesome. Bloggers, small or large businesses, and Internet marketers can all learn something from this entire collection… Getting Started with Email Marketing Hit the Internet Running: 9 Email Marketing Tips to Get You Going – It’s time to understand email marketing better and this post brings you a few basic email marketing tips that are the culmination of hours of research. Email Marketing: How to Get Started in 1 Day – Email marketing seem too confusing to set up? Email Marketing Tools & Services Email Marketing Services Reviewed – Selecting an email marketing service can be daunting. Building an Email List Email Content Strategies Ethical Email Marketing Email Templates & Design General Tips for Email Marketing Email Marketing Case Studies
Button Phobia | 10 Most Common Phobias A button phobia may sound harmless or strange, but it is a condition that affects many more people than one would think. It is a result of an improper brain function, which controls fear and anxiety triggers, and causes the brain to determine that buttons are a fear causing stimuli. Button phobias are not just simply a dislike of buttons, but a serious and consuming fear of them. Cases of button phobia differ in severity and how they affect individuals, and some cases can be extremely severe. The scientific name for a button phobia is Koumpounophobia. Button phobias also solicit different reactions from different people. Many of the causes of irrational fears, including those fears of buttons are unknown. Treatment for phobias usually involves two types of therapies.