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“The Steroids of Scientific Competition”
A week or so ago, I wrote up some new research showing how easy it is for psychological scientists to falsify experimental results. The point of the report, published on-line in the journal Psychological Science, was not that researchers are deliberately, or mischievously, reporting bogus findings. The point was instead that commonly accepted practices for reporting and analyzing data can lead inadvertently to invalid conclusions. According to the authors of the paper, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and Berkeley, the commonly accepted “false positive” rate of 5 percent could in reality run as high as 60 percent if all these practices come into play.
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The Physical Act of Creativity
When Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg was working on his 1977 hit movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he spent long hours puzzling over the artistic texture of the film, trying to get just the right feel. Late one night, he decided to put his work aside and take a drive to clear his head. He headed up Hollywood Hill to one of the vistas overlooking Los Angeles and—impulsively, for no reason at all—he did a hand-stand on the roof of his car. With his perspective on the illuminated LA cityscape turned topsy-turvy, he “saw” what would become the alien visitors’ spacecraft. This Hollywood legend may be apocryphal, but creativity gurus love it anyway.
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Scientific “freedom” and the Fountain of Youth
“Chronological rejuvenation” is psychological jargon for the Fountain of Youth, that elusive tonic that, when we find it, will reverse the aging process. Though many of us would welcome such a discovery, most of us also know it’s a fantasy, a scientific impossibility. So imagine my surprise when I came across this passage while browsing the journal Psychological Science.
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Youth vs Age: Who Makes the Better Decisions?
It’s 2031, and you are among the first humans to set foot on Mars. You and the other pioneering astronauts have discovered that there is actually a small amount of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere, but you need to figure out how to extract it. The future colonization of the Red Planet depends on your success in this task. Imagine you’re the leader of this mission, and you have two oxygen extraction systems that might work. You need to pick someone to test the two competing systems, and you have two equally qualified candidates. One is an up-and-comer, just turned 20 and eager to make his mark. The other is 67, a veteran. Which do you put in charge of this crucial job?
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The Nuts and Bolts of Emotional Sobriety
One of the cornerstones of alcoholism recovery is what’s called “emotional sobriety.” The idea is that alcoholics and other addicts, if they hope to stay sober over the long haul, must learn to regulate the negative feelings that can lead to discomfort, craving and—ultimately—relapse. It’s a lifelong project, a whole new way of thinking about life’s travails. But the recovery literature also says “first things first”—which simply means “don’t drink.” Especially in the early days of recovery, alcoholics are counseled not to analyze why they are addicted, or how they might have avoided alcoholism: “Don’t think and don’t drink” is the maxim.
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The Meditating Brain: Express Version
I have been experimenting with mindfulness meditation recently. Originally a Buddhist practice, mindfulness meditation focuses on moment-to-moment awareness, of one’s body and its sensations and one’s immediate surroundings. When thoughts intrude on this aware state—as they always do—you gently let them go as you return to the moment. It’s very calming—and really hard. It’s hard because the mind does not want to stop churning out thoughts. I’m told that with time and practice, meditation becomes easier, and what’s more that it brings a variety of emotional and health benefits. Those testimonials are why I’m doing this, but I confess the prospect is daunting.
