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The Psychology of Throwing in the Towel
Aren’t we supposed to admire Rep. Anthony Weiner’s persevering spirit in the face of adversity? Lesser men would be crawling under a rock with such revelations about their personal frailties and sexual oddities. The American tradition, from Ben Franklin to Horatio Alger to Rocky Balboa, is to value grit and determination. The fact is, it’s hard to cheer for giving up, throwing in the towel. So it’s no wonder this never-say-die attitude has made such an appealing plot line for dime novels and Hollywood. But is it really good psychology? Or might there be times when it really is better to simply walk away?
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Life is one big priming experiment . . .
One of the most robust ideas to come out of cognitive psychology in recent years is priming. Scientists have shown again and again that they can very subtly cue people’s unconscious minds to think and act certain ways. These cues might be concepts—like cold or fast or elderly—or they might be goals like professional success; either way, these signals shape our behavior, often without any awareness that we are being manipulated. This is humbling, especially when you think about what it means for our everyday beliefs and actions.
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I’m sorry. I’ve changed. I promise. Really.
It was excruciating to watch Anthony Weiner, the New York lawmaker, making public amends this week for tweeting lewd photos of himself to a young woman he didn’t even know. He was clearly mortified—at least his taut jaw and flat expression suggested that he was. But politicians are practiced at sending non-verbal messages, and Weiner was no doubt using every tool in his kit. Maybe he was just chagrined and upset at getting caught in such a foolish stunt. He hasn’t won my trust back yet, and I’m guessing that others feel this way as well. Trust recovery—apologizing, promising change, insisting we’ve changed—is tricky business.
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Virginity and Promiscuity: Evidence For the Very First Time
True Love Waits is a virginity pledge program, probably the largest of its kind. Started by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1993, it now claims more than 2.5 million members, teenagers and young adults who have promised to remain sexually “pure” until marriage. Many other virginity pledge programs have sprouted up since the ‘90s, and what’s more, state lawmakers have jumped on the abstinence bandwagon. Thirty-four states now require that abstinence be taught or emphasized in the school curricula, while only 15 mandate instruction in contraception.
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The Intelligence of Nations
Modern Japan has very few of the world’s natural resources—oil, forests, precious metals. Yet this archipelago has given rise to the world’s third largest economy. Nigeria, by contrast, is blessed with ample natural resources, including lots of land, yet it is one of the planet’s poorer nations. Why is that? Why is there not a simple link between natural bounty and prosperity? The short answer is national intelligence. A nation’s cognitive resources amplify its natural resources. That’s the view of University of Washington psychological scientist Earl Hunt, who argues that, given equal national intelligence, Nigeria would be richer than Japan.
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“We’ll always have Paris.” Really?
One of the most memorable lines in film comes from the 1942 classic Casablanca, when the cynical ex-pat Rick tells his former lover Ilsa: “We’ll always have Paris.” Rick is referring to their brief romance on the eve of World War II—a courtship that ended abruptly with the Nazi invasion of France. When he speaks those words to Ilsa in the movie’s final scene, Rick has accepted that he and Ilsa will never be reunited. There are higher causes and historical forces at play, but at least they will always have that one cherished memory. Or will they? When the jaded anti-hero Rick speaks those tender words, he is really stating his theory of human memory—and assessing his own.
