-
Could Solving This One Problem Solve All the Others?
Freakonomics: Our latest Freakonomics Radio episode is called “Could Solving This One Problem Solve All the Others?” The biggest problem with humanity is humans themselves. Too often, we make choices — what we eat, how we spend our money and time — that undermine our well-being. An all-star team of academic researchers thinks it has the solution: perfecting the science of behavior change. Will it work? Below is a transcript of the episode, modified for your reading pleasure. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, see the links at the bottom of this post. And you’ll find credits for the music in the episode noted within the transcript. Read the whole story: Freakonomics
-
A California Court for Young Adults Calls on Science
The New York Times: On a cloudy afternoon in the Bayview district, Shaquille, 21, was riding in his sister’s 1991 Acura when another car ran a stop sign, narrowly missing them. Both cars screeched to a halt, and Shaquille and the other driver got out. “I just wanted to talk,” he recalls. But the talk became an argument, and the argument ended when Shaquille sent the other driver to the pavement with a left hook. Later that day, he was arrested and charged with felony assault. He already had a misdemeanor assault conviction — for a fight in a laundromat when he was 19. This time he might land in prison. ...
-
Beacons help Waze users navigate Pittsburgh’s tricky tunnel exits
Marketplace: Even before reliance on GPS, tunnel driving has been difficult for drivers. “As you go from light to dark, you have a momentary adjustment of the lighting in your eye, the responses of the photo-receptors in your eye,” said Roberta Klatzky, who teaches psychology and human computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. “Its like when you go into a dark theater, at first you don’t see anything, then you can see the people all around you in their seats.” Klatzky said our minds are trying to compute speed and choices — the more there are, the harder it is to choose one. And it’s more confusing when reliance on a faulty GPS enters the picture.
-
The leadership lessons in Sheryl Sandberg’s and Adam Grant’s new book about resilience and grief
The Washington Post: Sheryl Sandberg's long-awaited book is out on what she learned about becoming resilient and coping with grief following the sudden death of her husband, Silicon Valley executive Dave Goldberg, in 2015. It's an intimate, largely personal book about how she coped with the devastating loss of a spouse, how she helped her children through the tragic loss, and how Sandberg helped herself rebuild her confidence, compassion to herself and capacity to find joy in the aftermath.
-
Why You Trust Email Way More Than You Should
New York Magazine: Flynn emphasizes the importance of a clear and well-communicated corporate email policy. Just having one doesn’t do any good if employees aren’t trained on it and given the reasoning behind it. And rules as to what kinds of language are banned and what counts as confidential information should be explicit enough to be closed to interpretation. But training is not a firewall against human stupidity, as Liuba Belkin, a professor of management at Lehigh University, observed when she qualitatively analyzed thousands of emails from several organizations for her dissertation.
-
New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
A sample of new research exploring PTSD and autobiographical memories in everyday life and a brief procedure for reactivating fear memories as part of exposure therapy.
