-
What World Cup Penalty Shootouts Can Teach You About Performing Well Under Extreme Pressure? A Lot, Considerable Science Says
If you think you're capable of diving deep into rabbit holes, consider psychologist Geir Jordet. He spent five years watching every penalty shootout of every major men's international soccer tournament (of which the World Cup is the most major) from the past fifty years. He also interviewed 25 of the players involved, and then validated his assumptions through practice sessions with 15 different teams. Sound super niche-y? Absolutely, but the goal of his research is universal: to better understand how pressure -- both external and internal -- can affect your performance.
-
How to Save Yourself from ‘Task Paralysis’
Why is it that when you have the most to do you feel the least able to act? This sense of helplessness — also called “overwhelm freeze” — always seems to set in when you have a dozen things on your list, all equally pressing. Or it shows up when you have one huge thing to accomplish that really matters, and you’re stumped on how to even begin. Instead of logically working through your list or slowly chipping away at that behemoth task, your brain acts like it’s a rabbit that’s just sensed a dog in the yard — it stops dead in its tracks.
-
What You Know Changes What and How You See
Can what we know about an object change the way we see it? Dick Dubbelde speaks about how quickly and how well we process different objects.
-
‘They Want Toys to Get Their Children Into Harvard’: Have We Been Getting Playthings All Wrong?
The week my eldest son finished nursery, I decided to clear out the playroom where he had spent much of his young life forming bonds with inanimate objects. Toys had kept him company whenever other duties or distractions had occupied his mother and me, and over the years we had amassed a truly crass number of them. As I sifted through pile after pile, I felt as though I was in the pit of an immense archaeological dig. I had not considered us to be particularly pushy or indulgent parents; mostly, I wanted my children to grow up to be financially independent and live lives of nothing worse than common unhappiness. But the artefacts in our playroom midden told another tale.
-
Doing This Makes People Twice as Likely to Help You, According to Wharton Psychologist Adam Grant
When you ask people for help with projects or tasks, how likely are they to do what you ask? It turns out that one factor tips the balance between likely to help you or unlikely--whether you thanked them last time they did. It may seem obvious that thanking someone for a favor makes them more willing to do another one, but you might be surprised at how big a difference it makes. ...
-
Showing Gratitude Is Good for All of Us, so Why Don’t We Give Thanks More?
Giving thanks is good for the person giving it as well as the one receiving it. So why don’t we express gratitude more often? Research suggests that many people don’t realize how much a simple gesture of thanks can mean. In one 2018 study published in Psychological Science, over 300 participants were asked to write a letter of gratitude to someone who positively impacted them — their parents, friends, coaches or teachers from long ago. ...
