Which Traits Predict Success? (The Importance of Grit) | Wired Science
What are the causes of success? At first glance, the answer is easy: success is about talent. It’s about being able to do something – hit a baseball, play chess, trade stocks, write a blog – better than most anyone else. That’s a fine answer, but it immediately invites another question: What is talent? How did that person get so good at hitting a baseball or trading stocks? In recent years, however, the pendulum has shifted. That’s interesting, right? The ability to ask these questions, to peel away layers of explanation, is one of the reasons I’m drawn to the psychological sciences. The first thing Duckworth, et. al. discovered is that deliberate practice works. But that still begs the question: Why were some kids better at drilling themselves with note cards? There are two interesting takeaways from this study. The second takeaway involves the growing recognition of “non-cognitive” skills like grit and self-control.
Dreams: Expert Q&A
On November 30, 2009, Robert Stickgold graciously answered dozens of wide-ranging questions about dreams and sleep. Q: Is there any truth to dreams being a window to our "unconscious"? Perhaps the question should be: What level of consciousness is expressed in our dreams? Do they "represent" anything of our feelings, moods, attitudes? Jose Lopez, Brooklyn, New York Q: Are Freud's teachings on dreaming still valid amongst new scientific findings? Robert Stickgold: Answering these two together, I'd say that Freud was probably 50 percent right and 100 percent wrong! Having said that, dreams can act as a window to our unconscious. Having said that, I think that dreaming also is looking for new ways to connect these associative networks, and it isn't a problem for the brain if some or even most of these explorations end up being useless or blatantly wrong. Q: It has been suggested that dreams are therapeutic—therapeutic in that dreams help solve emotional conflicts. Stickgold: No. Q: Hello,
Explain yourself: George Lakoff, cognitive linguist | Explainer.Net
As part of our research on explanatory journalism, we’re interviewing experts in fields outside journalism about their approaches to explaining complex systems to non-specialtists. Our first expert is cognitive linguist George Lakoff, who did groundbreaking research on the embodiment of thought and language and the way people think using metaphors. For Lakoff, language is not a neutral system of communication, because it is always based on frames, conceptual metaphors, narratives, and emotions. Political thought and language is inherently moral and emotional. Lakoff came up with a widely influential framework for understanding American politics, contrasting the “strict father” morality of conservatives with the “nurturant parent” morality of liberals. What good explanatory journalism needs to do, Lakoff suggests, is decode the moral frameworks within the language of politics and policy. Journalists Have an Outdated Conception of ‘Reason’ Portrait of René Descartes by Frans Hals
The Unselfish Gene
The Idea in Brief Executives, like most other people, have long believed that human beings are interested only in advancing their material interests. However, recent research in evolutionary biology, psychology, sociology, political science, and experimental economics suggests that people behave far less selfishly than most assume. Evolutionary biologists and psychologists have even found neural and, possibly, genetic evidence of a human predisposition to cooperate. These findings suggest that instead of using controls or carrots and sticks to motivate people, companies should use systems that rely on engagement and a sense of common purpose. Several levers can help executives build cooperative systems: encouraging communication, ensuring authentic framing, fostering empathy and solidarity, guaranteeing fairness and morality, using rewards and punishments that appeal to intrinsic motivations, relying on reputation and reciprocity, and ensuring flexibility.
Daniel Kahneman Answers Your Questions
Two weeks ago, we solicited your questions for Princeton psychology professor and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, whose new book is called Thinking, Fast and Slow. You responded by asking 45 questions. Kahneman has answered 22 of them in one of the more in-depth and wide-ranging Q&A’s we’ve run recently. It’s a great read. As always, thanks for your questions, and thanks to Daniel Kahneman for taking the time to answer so many of them. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A.
The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin, Stanovich
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsChapter 1. Staring into the Darwinian AbyssWhy Jerry Falwell Is RightThe Replicators and the VehiclesWhat Kind of Robot Is a Person?Whose Goals Are Served by Our Behavior?All Vehicles Overboard! Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. NotesReferencesAuthor IndexSubject Index
The Willpower Trick | Wired Science
January is the month of broken resolutions. The gyms are packed for a week, Jenny Craig is full of new recruits and houses are cleaned for the first time in ages. We pledge to finally become the person we want to be: svelte, neat and punctual. Alas, it doesn’t take long before the stairmasters are once again sitting empty and those same dirty T-shirts are piling up at the back of the closet. We start binging on pizza and beer — sorry, Jenny — and forget about that pledge to become a kinder, gentler person. Human habits, in other words, are stubborn things, which helps explain why 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure, according to a 2007 survey of over 3,000 people conducted by the British psychologist Richard Wiseman. The reason our resolutions end in such dismal fashion returns us to the single most important fact about human willpower — it’s incredibly feeble. Here’s where the results get weird. Is there a way out of this willpower trap? The same lesson applies to adults.
Not just horsing around … psychologists put their faith in equine therapies | Society | The Observer
In a Sussex field, a large bay horse is galloping around, tail held high. This magnificent creature is one of a new army of animals that is helping therapists to treat everything from addiction to autism to post-traumatic stress disorder. Reports last week showed that dogs, already known to be invaluable helpmates for blind, deaf, diabetic and epileptic owners, were also being trained to help dementia patients. Now the psychological benefits of working with horses are being recognised by growing numbers of therapists who work with autistic children, young people with behavioural problems, adults with depression or celebrities with addictions. "The horse is the perfect mirror, they are very emotional beings; we're only starting to realise how intelligent they are," said therapy counsellor Gabrielle Gardner, of Shine For Life, watching the horse dance around his pen at a farm in Blackstone, a village a few miles north of Brighton. He said the trick was offering "mobility with dignity".
