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The Kryptonite of Smart Decisions? Overconfidence
Research shows that people in general are overconfident, but entrepreneurs appear to be particularly prone to cockiness. About half of new companies fail within five years, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite the imposing failure rate for new businesses, entrepreneurs are often quite confident that their ventures are going to succeed. One survey of 3,000 entrepreneurs found that 81% believed that their chance of success was 70% or higher; and a whopping 33% estimated their chance of success to be 100%. New research from psychological scientists Daylian Cain (Yale University), Don A.
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Do I Look Fat? Men Ask This Question, Too
The Wall Street Journal: Movies and TV shows full of svelte celebrities. Magazines and websites pushing weight loss and exercise. It is tough being a man these days. Just-published research, from one of the largest studies on male body image, shows how much men worry about being thin and muscular: Not quite as much as women agonize about their bodies. But still a lot. And it affects their relationships in surprising ways. A partner may become resentful that her man slimmed down without her—or jealous of all the new attention he is getting. She may worry he will find someone else.
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Could You Hack Your Brain To Get More Motivated?
NPR: We know we should put the cigarettes away or make use of that gym membership, but in the moment, we just don't do it. There is a cluster of neurons in our brain critical for motivation, though. What if you could hack them to motivate yourself? These neurons are located in the middle of the brain, in a region called the ventral tegmental area. A paper published Thursday in the journal Neuron suggests that we can activate the region with a little bit of training. ... That changed when the participants were allowed to watch a neurofeedback meter that displayed activity in their ventral tegmental area.
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Psychology Is in Crisis Over Whether It’s in Crisis
Wired: LAST SUMMER, THE field of psychology had a moment—possibly one of the most influential events in science last year. On August 27, 2015, a group called the Open Science Collaboration published the results of its Reproducibility Project, a three-year effort to re-do 100 psychology studies. Replication is, of course, one of the fundamental tenets of good science. The group wanted to see how many of the original effects they could replicate. The result: It only worked about 40 percent of the time. That did not go over well. But now the psychology establishment is fighting back.
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Here’s why you won’t really move to Canada if Trump wins in November
The Washington Post: Every four years, thousands of Americans threaten to leave the United States if the “wrong” candidate becomes president. For many voters this year, that candidate is Donald Trump. ... Why do so many disgruntled voters threaten to leave the country, only to see so few actually follow through? Because people overestimate how much pain they’ll feel when they experience a dreaded outcome. This isn’t news to psychologists. In 1978, Philip Brickman and his colleagues interviewed accident victims, lottery winners and a control sample of people who hadn’t experienced an unexpected major life event, good or bad.
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The incredible power of ignoring everything
The Washington Post: Fyodor Dostoevsky, the 19th Century Russian author, once famously challenged his brother to try out a strange task: Don't think about a polar bear right now. “Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute,” Dostoevsky writes in “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions.” Since then, people have puzzled over what happens in the brain when we try intentionally to ignore things. Can we actually succeed in ignoring certain information -- and improve our focus on everything else?
