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Dan Ariely wants to help manage your time
The Washington Post: Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University who wrote the popular book Predictably Irrational, has a portfolio of apps he helped create for the iPhone. One, called Oranges2Apples, helped illustrate the economic concept of opportunity cost by showing people what else they could buy if they didn't spend money on a selected item. Another, called At A Boy, doled out compliments to the user (presumably to help with his research).
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What Do Great Musicians Have in Common? DNA
Scientific American: At age 13, jazz great Thelonious Monk ran into trouble at Harlem's Apollo Theater. The reason: he was too good. The famously precocious pianist was, as they say, a “natural,” and by that point had won the Apollo’s amateur competition so many times that he was barred from re-entering. To be sure, Monk practiced, a lot actually. But two new studies, and the fact that he taught himself to read music as a child before taking a single lesson, suggest that he likely had plenty of help from his genes.
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Set goals and you just may live longer
Market Watch: Remember the saying "idle hands are the devil's workshop?" And your mother's admonition to "keep busy?" Turns out they may actually be healthful advice to live by. New research published in Psychological Science suggests that having purpose in life can promote healthy aging and increase longevity. While purposefulness has long been known to lower mortality, this is the first study that documents its benefits in younger, middle-aged and older persons. The study also found that setting goals and good interpersonal relationships are key components to healthy aging and increased lifespan. Read the whole story: Market Watch
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Healing the Wounds of the Future
The Huffington Post: Several years ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran an article about "Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder," based on a "study" by the Department of Future Veterans Affairs. Victims of the disorder, according to the report, experience "vivid, ultra-realistic flash-forwards" of disturbing wartime events that are yet to come. Soldiers who have never experienced a day of battle nevertheless "prelive" the hell of war. The story was irreverent and no doubt offensive to some, but it was funny. It was funny because the whole idea of remembering the future is absurd. Or is it?
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Should Athletes Train Their Memories?
Pacific Standard: In a recent ESPN piece, Brandon Weems, LeBron James’ childhood friend, related the following anecdote to Brian Windhorst: “When you play Madden with him now you have to be careful which teams you take, because he will know what your game plans were in the past when you’ve played with him and he’ll pick the opposing team knowing what plays you want to run.” The King’s basketball memory is perhaps even more impressive. Again, from Windhorst’s piece: t’s the middle of February now, in a game against the Golden State Warriors, and James is walking the ball down the floor with the seconds running out.
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Is Racism Just a Form of Stupidity?
I think that a lot of us are shying away from an obvious truth, that the kind of blatant racial prejudice we are witnessing in Ferguson, Missouri, has everything to do with stupidity. I'm talking about low intelligence, lack of mental ability, cognitive rigidity. The Ferguson racists may be a lot of other things—hateful, insecure—but let's not sugar-coat what most fair-minded thinkers believe in their hearts: A person of intelligence cannot embrace such authoritarian and racist views. Intelligence is a scientific concept, something scientists can measure, and have for a long time.
