psychology

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Lectures for a New Year: We are Empathic Monkeys

In this RSA Animate presentation, economist Jeremy Rifkin discusses emerging research on empathy. It's a fast-paced, smart talk -- and it deals with the core question what is empathy? More than wondering what it is, Rifkin discusses how we observe it arise in each human (anyone who has been around kids has observed this progression), research on animals that demonstrates the neurological basis of empathy, and the philosophical implications of empathy for our world. Why does empathy matter? Ultimately... READ ON

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Lectures for a New Year: Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of iconic books including Blink and The Tipping Point. He has a formula for most of his work: find a core assumption about the world that everyone assumes is correct, then prove that the opposite is actually correct. (For example, in Blink one assumption was that rigorous, detailed study of something like a work of art would lead to the best determination of whether it was a forgery; but it turns out that the best forgery detectors in the world actually operate on gut... READ ON

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Lectures for a New Year: Temple Grandin on Autism

This is a TED classic: Temple Grandin explaining what it's like to be autistic, shortly after the release of a movie based on her book Thinking in Pictures. In the book and in the talk, Grandin explains how her cognitive experience as an autistic person differs from that of an average person (let's not say "normal"). Grandin's brain is very visual, and that has helped in her animal husbandry work -- she can think as an animal presumably thinks, and because of that, she's uniquely situated to understand... READ ON

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Lectures for a New Year: Turning Squares into Diamonds

Today, a lecture that's funny and a bit geeky around the edges. In this talk, adman Rory Sutherland tells a series of funny anecdotes about history, advertising, and the perception of value. That may not sound entertaining, but it really is -- it's a rollicking good time, and it's really smart stuff, without going over anyone's head. Alternating between historical examples and modern ones, Sutherland pokes fun at trends (for example, calling a shared plate of pub fries "Food 2.0"), but eventually gets... READ ON

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Lectures for a New Year: A Brain Scientist Studies Her Own Stroke

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist (or "brain scientist") from Indiana. In 1996 she experienced a major stroke, out of the blue, at age 37. As a scientist deeply involved with brain function, she was ideally situated to understand the stroke as it happened (as much as anyone can during a frickin' stroke), and later to draw meaningful lessons from what happened. That stroke is the topic of this twenty-minute lecture. Bolte Taylor's "Stroke of Insight" is the second most-watched TED Talk of all... READ ON

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Why Angry Birds is So Addictive

In this analysis, usability expert Charles Mauro dissects the wildly successful game Angry Birds in order to explain why it's so engaging -- what factors in the game affect human cognition so that we'll spend hours flinging virtual birds at virtual pigs? I love Mauro's dry explanation of the game's premise: ... For those who don’t have a clue what Angry Birds is all about, here is a quick synopsis. The game involves employing a sling shot to propel small cannonball-shaped birds with really bad... READ ON

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The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions

Julia Suits has assembled a book filled with ads for real prank machines used in fraternal lodges in the early part of the 20th century, complete with an introduction by David Copperfield. This volume is extremely appropriate for readers of mental_floss, as it's full of trivia on weird inventions, the history of pranks, and a very special form of Americana. The book is bizarre and hilariously perverse, packed with clippings from catalogs sent to the high muckety-mucks at the Modern Woodmen of America,... READ ON

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Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice

"The official dogma ['of all Western societies'] runs like this: if we are interested in maximizing the welfare of our citizens, the way to do that is to maximize individual freedom. The reason for this is both that freedom is, in and of itself, good, valuable, worthwhile, essential to being human, and because if people have freedom, then each of us can act on our own to do the things that will maximize our welfare, and no one has to decide on our behalf. The way to maximize freedom is to maximize... READ ON

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How to Spot a Liar

In this TED Talk, author Pamela Meyer talks about how to spot a lie. You've seen Lie to Me, right? This is roughly the same notion (albeit not in fast-moving TV form), though Meyer notes that lie-spotting is a discipline that's not about calling people out on the fly -- it's a bit more subtle. Recommended for: those interested in psychology, professionals concerned about being conned, those interested in Koko the gorilla's lies, and anyone interested in learning some basic lie-spotting tips. (Meyer... READ ON

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Steven Johnson on Where Good Ideas Come From (Hint: Coffee!)

"The English coffee house was crucial to the development and spread of ... The Englightenment, ... in part because of what people were drinking there." So begins author Steven Johnson's excellent TED Talk about ideas, and in part about how the rise of coffee changed the world. Another quote: "The water wasn't safe to drink. Effectively, until the rise of the coffee house, you had a population that was drunk all day." This is backed up by the real story of Johnny Appleseed, who was bringing a... READ ON