1,086 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2021
    1. Franceschini, C., Musetti, A., Zenesini, C., Palagini, L., Pelosi, A., Quattropani, M. C., Lenzo, V., Freda, M. F., Lemmo, D., Vegni, E., Borghi, L., Saita, E., Cattivelli, R., De Gennaro, L., Plazzi, G., Riemann, D., & Castelnuovo, G. (2020). Poor quality of sleep and its consequences on mental health during COVID-19 lockdown in Italy [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ah6j3

  2. Apr 2021
    1. When audio quality is high (vs low), people judge the content as better and more important. They also judge the speaker as more intelligent, competent, and likable.In an experiment, people rated a physicist’s talk at a scientific conference as 19.3% better when they listened to it in high quality audio vs slightly distorted, echo-prone audio.

      High quality audio makes you sound smarter:

    1. “Forgetting used to be the default, and that also meant you could edit your memories,” says Kate Eichhorn, who researches culture and media at the New School in New York City and wrote the book The End of Forgetting. “Editing memories” in this context refers to a psychological process, not a Photoshop tool. The human brain is constantly editing memories to incorporate new information and, in some cases, to cope with trauma.

      Possibly worth reading for some of my research?

  3. Mar 2021
    1. Memory is commonly classified by psychologists according as it is exercised (a) mechanically, by attention and repetition; (b) judiciously, by careful selection and co-ordination; and (c) ingeniously, by means of artifices, i.e. mnemotechny, mnemonics. It must, however, be observed that no mnemonic is of any value which does not possess the qualities of (a) and (b). A mnemonic is essentially a device which uses attention and repetition, and careful selection is equally necessary. A more accurate description of mnemonics is "mediate" or "indirect" memory.
    1. Kniffin, K. M., Narayanan, J., Anseel, F., Antonakis, J., Ashford, S., Bakker, A. B., Bamberger, P., Bapuji, H., Bhave, D. P., Choi, V. K., Creary, S. J., Demerouti, E., Flynn, F., Gelfand, Mi., Greer, L., Johns, G., Kesebir, S., Klein, P. G., Lee, S. Y., … van vugt, mark. (2020). COVID-19 and the Workplace: Implications, Issues, and Insights for Future Research and Action [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/gkwme

    1. Ghio, D., Lawes-Wickwar, S., Tang, M. Y., Epton, T., Howlett, N., Jenkinson, E., Stanescu, S., Westbrook, J., Kassianos, A., Watson, D., Sutherland, L., Stanulewicz, N., Guest, E., Scanlan, D., Carr, N., Chater, A., Hotham, S., Thorneloe, R., Armitage, C., … Keyworth, C. (2020). What influences people’s responses to public health messages for managing risks and preventing infectious diseases? A rapid systematic review of the evidence and recommendations [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nz7tr

    1. This excerpt is drawn from “A World Without Email,” by Cal Newport, out in March from Portfolio.

      An overview of many email related research studies which indicates its design stresses us out unnecessarily.

    1. When peeking at your brain may help with mental illness
      • Experimental treatments use fMRI brain imaging to teach mental illness patients how to optimize their brain activity.
      • Scientists analyzed 17 relevant studies with 410 total participants, and concluded that people can regulate their own brain activity when they see it in real time.
      • The method is called neurofeedback, and it shows promise as a way to treat mental illness patients.
      • However, the method has to be studied more in order to understand how it works, and how to unlock its potential as a treatment.
    1. Reconceptualising joy as dopamine activity in the brain's reward centres, melancholy as serotonin deficiency, attention as the noradrenalin-induced modulation of stimulus-processing, and, not least, love as a consequence of the secretion of centrally acting bonding hormones, changes not only our perspective on emotional and mental states, but also our subjective experience of self. That does not mean that we experience the physiological side of feelings like love or guilt any differently, but it does make us think about them differently. This, in turn, changes the way we perceive, interpret and order them, and hence the effect they have on our behaviour.

      Being aware of how we operate is probably worthwhile but not when this understanding is subverted to create more profits for owners of vast algorithmic empires, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.

    2. Depression, however, was also the first widespread mental illness for which modern neuroscience promptly found a remedy. Depression and anxiety were located in the gaps between the synapses, which is precisely where they were treated. Where previously there had only been reflexive psychotherapy, an interface had now been identified where suffering induced by the self and the world could now be alleviated directly and pre-reflexively. At this point, if not before, the unequal duo of capitalism and neuroscience was joined by a third partner. From now on, the blossoming pharmaceutical industry was to function as a kind of transmission belt connecting the two wheels and making them turn faster.

      One good reason to be wary of psychopharmacology is that it is extremely profitable.

    1. James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) explored both the hubris of the male scientist described in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818) as well as the repressive sexuality of Western culture. Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) advocated for a liberal belief in the collective submission to a technocratic elite.

      I initially found this article by searching for "alien movie hubris" and the search results did not disappoint. This essay does a great job weaving several themes about creativity, automation, intelligence, biology, culture, ambition, power, delusions of grandeur, human spirituality and sexuality, and a few more I'm probably forgetting. It's definitely worthwhile reading.

    1. The idea is interesting that if you introduce a slight distraction or speak softly, people will not only have to try harder to hear you but that the "effort moves us into higher gear, activating more vigorous and more analytical brain machinery." (53)

      It's a frequent story in Hollywood that Michael Ovitz used the tactic of speaking softly to get people to listen to him more closely.

      Ought to dig in to see if anyone has done research on this effect.

      Dan doesn't seem to indicate it, but I'm sort of curious what his parenthetical numbers in the text represent or link to?

    1. System architects: equivalents to architecture and planning for a world of knowledge and data Both government and business need new skills to do this work well. At present the capabilities described in this paper are divided up. Parts sit within data teams; others in knowledge management, product development, research, policy analysis or strategy teams, or in the various professions dotted around government, from economists to statisticians. In governments, for example, the main emphasis of digital teams in recent years has been very much on service design and delivery, not intelligence. This may be one reason why some aspects of government intelligence appear to have declined in recent years – notably the organisation of memory.57 What we need is a skill set analogous to architects. Good architects learn to think in multiple ways – combining engineering, aesthetics, attention to place and politics. Their work necessitates linking awareness of building materials, planning contexts, psychology and design. Architecture sits alongside urban planning which was also created as an integrative discipline, combining awareness of physical design with finance, strategy and law. So we have two very well-developed integrative skills for the material world. But there is very little comparable for the intangibles of data, knowledge and intelligence. What’s needed now is a profession with skills straddling engineering, data and social science – who are adept at understanding, designing and improving intelligent systems that are transparent and self-aware58. Some should also specialise in processes that engage stakeholders in the task of systems mapping and design, and make the most of collective intelligence. As with architecture and urban planning supply and demand need to evolve in tandem, with governments and other funders seeking to recruit ‘systems architects’ or ‘intelligence architects’ while universities put in place new courses to develop them.
    1. When should you end a conversation? Probably sooner than you think
      • In a conversation-based experiment with 252 strangers, researchers found that only in 2% cases both participants were happy with how long they talked.
      • It’s probably because we hide our true intentions for fear of being rude, even though we’d like to end a conversation early.
      • There was a big disconnect between what people wanted, and what they thought their conversation partners wanted.
      • This suggests that we’re really bad at guessing what other people want.
      • These findings show that we know very little about how conversations work, so it’s a great area for researchers to explore.
    1. Why we’re so bad at daydreaming, and how to fix it
      • Researchers find that people don’t know what to daydream about, but when they’re given directions - their pleasure from thinking increases by 50%.
      • The way to find pleasure in daydreaming might be to consciously focus on positive, meaningful memories and thoughts.
      • Daydreaming is a skill that you can get good at with practice, and once you do, it can be a way to never experience boredom again, and to finally be ok with your thoughts.
      • Try it! Just don’t confuse daydreaming with planning (which is not pleasurable), make it a habit, and you may find that you’ll be able to re-shape your emotions.
  4. Feb 2021
    1. Ghio, D., Lawes-Wickwar, S., Tang, M. Y., Epton, T., Howlett, N., Jenkinson, E., Stanescu, S., Westbrook, J., Kassianos, A., Watson, D., Sutherland, L., Stanulewicz, N., Guest, E., Scanlan, D., Carr, N., Chater, A., Hotham, S., Thorneloe, R., Armitage, C., … Keyworth, C. (2020). What influences people’s responses to public health messages for managing risks and preventing infectious diseases? A rapid systematic review of the evidence and recommendations [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nz7tr

    1. McCarthy et al. (2020) refer to a number of bullshit expressionssuch as “blue-sky thinking” or “out-of-the-box thinking”, which are often usedas vague buzzwords with minimal substance. This vagueness serves the interestsof bullshitters, because communication targets are less likely to ask questionswhen they find it difficult to understand what has been said (McCarthy et al.,2020).
    1. Can the Brain Resist the Group Opinion?
      • In a study of 20 participant’s brain activity and opinion-forming, researchers find that people are likely to conform to group opinion if their own is different.
      • It’s possible that the brain foresees potential disagreements in the future, and subconsciously drives us to conform to popular opinions.
      • This process involves the superior parietal cortex, a brain area that retrieves memories.
      • The study suggests that the opinion of others literally changes our brain.
    1. Neural nets learn and make decisions independently of their human programmers. Researchers refer to this hidden process as a "black box." It is hard to trust the machine's outputs if we don't know what is happening in the box.

      Counter-argument: Why do we trust a human being's decisions if we don't know what is happening inside their brain? Yes, we can question the human being but we then have to trust that what they tell us about their rationale is true.

    1. propose to create a new academic discipline called “machine behavior.” It approaches studying AI systems in the same way we’ve always studied animals and humans: through empirical observation and experimentation

      We do this all the time; observe people's behaviour and then make inferences about their intentions.

    2. We've developed scientific methods to study black boxes for hundreds of years now, but these methods have primarily been applied to [living beings] up to this point

      It's called psychology.

  5. Jan 2021
    1. Elon Musk declared that we are marching towards a near future without language, in which we’ll be able to communicate directly mind-to-mind through neural links. ‘Our brain spends a lot of effort compressing a complex concept into words,’ he said in a recent interview, ‘and there’s a lot of loss of information that occurs when compressing a complex concept into words.’

      Elon Musk on the future of talking

    2. Mute inner speech can appear as an inner dialogue as well, but its truncated form encourages us to create a ‘secret’ abbreviated language and deploy mental shortcuts. By forcing us to articulate ourselves more fully, self-talk summons up the image of an imagined listener or interrogator more vividly. In this way, it allows us to question ourselves more critically by adopting an external perspective on our ideas, and so to consider shortcomings in our arguments – all while using our own speech.

      The essential difference between mute speach and self-talk

    3. Contemporary theories in cognition and the science of learning reaffirm Kleist’s speculations, and show how self-talk contributes not only to motivation and emotional regulation, but also to some higher cognitive functions such as developing metacognition and reasoning.

      Self-talk brings lots of benefits

    4. It’s no coincidence that we walk when we need to think: evidence shows that movement enhances thinking and learning, and both are activated in the same centre of motor control in the brain. In the influential subfield of cognitive science concerned with ‘embodied’ cognition, one prominent claim is that actions themselves are constitutive of cognitive processes. That is, activities such as playing a musical instrument, writing, speaking or dancing don’t start in the brain and then emanate out to the body as actions; rather, they entail the mind and body working in concert as a creative, integrated whole, unfolding and influencing each other in turn. It’s therefore a significant problem that many of us are trapped in work and study environments that don’t allow us to activate these intuitive cognitive muscles, and indeed often even encourage us to avoid them.

      Symbiosis of movement and thinking

    1. People think that fighters fight best when they are angry, that singers, actors and musicians perform best when they are high on emotions. This cannot be further from the truth. Studies show that in high-stress situations, we perform when we separate ourselves from our emotions. Like how a cup is only useful when it’s empty, it is only when we empty ourselves that we can become a conduit for our art, transcend our mortal shell, and perform at the highest levels.

      Studies show that in high-stress situations people perform better when there is a separation of self and emotions.

      We might think that boxers perform better when they're angry but that might not be the case.

    2. “affect labelling,” the act of putting feelings into words, actually help decrease brain activity in the amygdala and therefore reduce stress

      Affect Labelling - Put thoughts into words. Decreases amygdala activity which decreases stress.

      Other studies have shown this has resulted in:

      • Healthier eating choices
      • Healthier sexual appetites

      Great practices are:

      • Reframing your language. Practise saying phrases like “I am feeling angry”, instead of “I am angry.”
      • Meditate often
      • Induce flow states through work you enjoy, or exercise
      • Psychedelic experiences
      • Being in nature (e.g long hikes)
      • Vipassana retreats
      • Long stretches of undisturbed time spent with yourself
    3. “Cognitive Reframing” is a technique used in therapy where patients are taught to look at things from another perspective. This technique helps patients look at the same event with different points of view, and has been proven to help improve their self-talk and behaviour. We are, after all, made up of the stories we tell ourselves.

      Cognitive Reframing - Technique to let patients look at situations from different perspectives.

      • Helps with self talk and behavior
      • Helps with narratives about ourselves
    1. the commonplace book has been particularly beloved by poets, whose business is the revelation of wholeness through the fragmentary

      Gestalt: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. See also, emergence in chaos theory and complexity.

  6. Dec 2020
    1. In both cases – speech and writing – the materiality of language undergoes a transformation (to audible sounds or written signs) which in turn produces a mental shift.

      There's surely a link between this and the idea of thought spaces in the blogosphere or the idea of a commonplace book/digital garden/wiki.

    2. The idea that speaking out loud and thinking are closely related isn’t new. It emerged in Ancient Greece and Rome, in the work of such great orators as Marcus Tullius Cicero. But perhaps the most intriguing modern development of the idea appeared in the essay ‘On the Gradual Formation of Thoughts During Speech’ (1805) by the German writer Heinrich von Kleist.

      Some of this is at play with the idea of "rubber ducking" as a means of debugging programs

    1. Teen dislike of physical appearance strong predictor of depression in early adulthood

      Summary of the article:

      • Teens unhappy about their looks are up to 285% more likely to develop depression later in life.
      • This finding comes from a long-term study of ~4000 children born in 1991/2.
      • At age 14, both boys and girls were mildly satisfied with their bodies, but girls were more dissatisfied.
      • Body dissatisfaction at 14 predicted depressive episodes at 18, with the boys at much greater risk of severe depressive episodes.
      • Study authors conclude that body dissatisfaction should be seen as a public health issue, and reducing it could lead to better mental health outcomes for young adults.
    1. Stuaert Rtchie [@StuartJRitchie] (2020) This encapsulates the problem nicely. Sure, there’s a paper. But actually read it & what do you find? p-values mostly juuuust under .05 (a red flag) and a sample size that’s FAR less than “25m”. If you think this is in any way compelling evidence, you’ve totally been sold a pup. Twitter. Retrieved from:https://twitter.com/StuartJRitchie/status/1305963050302877697

    1. Instead of waiting for a magic fairy to appear and eliminate your problem so that you can enjoy life again, you might want to start adding those little positive events back onto your agenda despite the problem still being present

      This solution based therapy focuses on trying to get people active and engaged with life even when depressed.

      It is important to help patients experience those little positive events. These events can help people get back on track.

    2. If you need to imagine in concrete detail how you would notice that a problem disappeared, you are challenged to leave vague descriptions like “I’ll be happy”, “I’ll be less annoyed” behind.Vagueness in the end is a cognitive avoidance mechanism. It is easy to ruminate on general emotions and thoughts but very hard to imagine concrete outcomes and changes. We would rather not face precise thoughts, emotions or memories because they can be painful. Better to stay at a safe but vague distance.

      This is all about solution based therapy. We need concrete ways of fixing our problems.

      Vagueness is a cognitive avoidance strategy. It is a way to avoid digging deep.

      It is safer for our feelings to stay vague, but that is not where we need to improve.

    3. Rather than defining the problem — which is hard — you are invited to define the change you would like to experience. It is a bit like reverse engineering.

      This is a very interesting way to approach psychotherapy:

      Let the patient define and explore the change they want to experience.

  7. Nov 2020
    1. The Thirteen Sources of Well-Being:More positive emotionsFewer negative emotionsLife satisfactionVitalityEnvironmental masteryPositive relationshipsSelf-acceptanceMasteryAutonomyPersonal growthEngagement in lifePurpose and meaning in lifeTranscendent experiences

      The Thirteen Sources of Well-Being

      1. More positive emotions
      2. Fewer negative emotions
      3. Life satisfaction
      4. Vitality
      5. Environmental mastery
      6. Positive relationships
      7. Self-acceptance
      8. Mastery
      9. Autonomy
      10. Personal growth
      11. Engagement in life
      12. Purpose and meaning in life
      13. Transcendent experiences
    2. “Within the humanistic psychology framework, the healthy personality is considered one that constantly moves toward freedom, responsibility, self-awareness, meaning, commitment, personal growth, maturity, integration, and change, rather than one that predominantly strives for status, achievement, or even happiness."

      The humanistic psychology framework focuses on larger scale values than on individual achievement

    1. Once the person opens up about what they’re feeling, resist the temptation to find a solution. Instead, validate. McGrath suggests telling them their emotions makes sense, reiterating how hard their experience sounds, then asking what they need.If you’re burning to share how you see things, ask permission before dishing out advice. Sometimes, well-intentioned attempts to fix the problem send a message that you’re uncomfortable with the other person’s emotions, which does anything but forge trust and connection.

      Something I need to practice more.

      When someone opens up, do not be so quick to fix. Understand the issue, what is causing them pain, why it is causing them pain, and validate that concern by reiterating the experience to them.

      This way you allow them to not feel like they are wrong for feeling that way.

    2. simple as tacking on an “I could be wrong, but” at the beginning, or an “Am I off base?” at the end. “This way, you provide an out so the other person can deny they feel that way,” she says, and give them a chance to correct the record by sharing what’s actually going on, if they choose.

      You don't have to be right about your observation, you just have to try. This shows that you are trying, that you are willing to empathize.

      So it is important to make your observation but also give space for them to talk about their feelings. How can you do that? Well you can say: "Am I off base?", "Correct me if I'm wrong"

    3. Observations, on the other hand, cultivate connection by showing you’re paying attention, Braman explained in her post; that’s why she encourages parents to lead with statements like “You seem frustrated,” or “You’re full of smiles.”

      Asking a kid "how was your day" can cause them anxiety because they still don't have the language to describe their feelings. This question usually don't lead to any good.

      On the other hand, make observations! Say something like "you seem frustrated" or "You seem pretty happy today". This helps them develop a language to describe how they are feeling.

      As I was writing this I thought about how important books are. They can describe the emotional language of someone and help the reader empathize with it and also adopt ways to express themselves.

    4. Observations “send the message that you notice changes in a person and are interested in knowing more about their experience, says New York-based psychologist Sabrina Romanoff, “all the while rejecting the superficial ‘how are you’ exchange and replacing it with genuine connection.”

      Another important point is that observations show interest in the subject matter while simply asking for a broad summary of a day does not.

    5. A direct, “you seem” statement might work with your own kid, but for an adult, it might feel like labeling, which can trigger defensiveness or an emotional shutdown. The goal is to encourage the other person to open up about how they’re doing by showing you care, so frame your observation in a way that won’t make them feel judged or misinterpreted.Instead, couch your observation with softer, curiosity-driven language. Mia Rosenberg, a therapist and the owner of Upsider Therapy, recommends the “I’ve noticed that” and “I’m wondering” formula. For example, you could say, “I’ve noticed that you’re quieter lately; I’m wondering if you’re stressed?”

      "You seem" might work on a child but can be seen as labeling when used on an adult.

      Instead use "I've noticed that" and "I'm wondering". Also observe body language.

      Do not say "You look tired" because that can seem mean to someone struggling. Instead use emotion focused words such as burned out or frustrated.

  8. Oct 2020
    1. Her dark coat fell open, and her white throat—all her soft young body in the blue dress—was like a flower that is just emerging from its dark bud.

      The ambiguity of Mansfield's stories, and there sudden endings, place the tensions and moral implications, on our laps. What are the relationships between motherly neglect, wealth, and the sexuality of a young girl? Is the young girls bratiness a reasonable reaction to her circumstances (assuming the mother, really is a neglectful mother). Is she spoiled? or is the young girl simply lashing out. Do we develop our identities, or does circumstance?

    1. Playing video games as a child can improve working memory years later
      • Studies have shown that playing video games can lead to brain structure changes, but new study shows changes can happen even years after people stop playing.
      • The study lasted a month, and involved 27 people between 18 and 40 years old, with and without experience in gaming.
      • Those who played a lot before becoming adults performed better with working memory tasks, which require you to mentally hold and manipulate information.
      • They also did better at processing 3D objects, but after a period of video game training, non-gamers were able to catch up in this area.
      • Video games are great to strengthen mental skills, however these improvements have limited effect on activities not linked to gaming
    1. It was later determined that humans impose meaning even on nonsense syllables to make them more meaningful. The nonsense syllable PED (which is the first three letters of the word "pedal") turns out to be less nonsensical than a syllable such as KOJ; the syllables are said to differ in association value.[5] It appears that Ebbinghaus recognized this, and only referred to the strings of syllables as "nonsense" in that the syllables might be less likely to have a specific meaning and he should make no attempt to make associations with them for easier retrieval.

      This seems roughly similar to Major Beniowski's phrenotypic associative memory. Some of these nonesense syllables could more easily be associated than others. Perhaps going through them one could do phrenotypic distances?

      Would Ebbinghaus have known of Beniowski's work? Evidence?

    1. Most previous explanations had focussed on explaining how someone’s beliefs might be altered in the moment.

      Knowing a little of what is coming in advance here, I can't help but thinking: How can this riot theory potentially be used to influence politics and/or political campaigns? It could be particularly effective to get people "riled up" just before a particular election to create a political riot of sorts and thereby influence the outcome.

      Facebook has done several social experiments with elections in showing that their friends and family voted and thereby affecting other potential voters. When done in a way that targets people of particular political beliefs to increase turn out, one is given a means of drastically influencing elections. In some sense, this is an example of this "Riot Theory".

  9. Sep 2020
    1. I will accept your ladyship’s dismissal, but not your ladyship’s money

      Detectives are masters of psychology. By not accepting Mrs. Verinder's money, Sergeant Cuff tries to make Mrs. Verinder feels that she owes him a favor, and therefore decreases the possibility that he will get fired.

    1. Henrich defends this sweeping thesis with several studies, including a test known as the Triad Task. Subjects are shown three images—say, a rabbit, a carrot, and a cat. The goal is to match a “target object”—the rabbit—with a second object. A person who matches the rabbit with the cat classifies: The rabbit and the cat are animals. A person who matches the rabbit with the carrot looks for relationships between the objects: The rabbit eats the carrot.
    2. WEIRD people have a bad habit of universalizing from their own particularities. They think everyone thinks the way they do, and some of them (not all, of course) reinforce that assumption by studying themselves. In the run-up to writing the book, Henrich and two colleagues did a literature review of experimental psychology and found that 96 percent of subjects enlisted in the research came from northern Europe, North America, or Australia. About 70 percent of those were American undergraduates. Blinded by this kind of myopia, many Westerners assume that what’s good or bad for them is good or bad for everyone else.

      This is a painful reality. It's also even more specific to the current Republican party. Do as we say, not as we do.

      This is the sort of example that David Dylan Thomas will appreciate.

    1. Thus, New Thought thinker Ralph Waldo Trine (not to be confused with Ralph Waldo Emerson) could exhort his readers to “See yourself in a prosperous condition. Affirm that you will before long be in a prosperous condition.”

      This also sounds a bit like the general philosophy behind Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich.

  10. Aug 2020
    1. However, there is one important point: with the visualisation the feeling must be there too. When someone is seeing him/herself in for example delivering a speech for the first time on stage, they really must let the feeling build up in their hearts, minds and body too. Then the vibrations will do their "magic

      Comment in the article suggested that you should focus on visualizing the action AND emotion

    2. “In 2004, Cleveland Clinic physiologist Guang Yue wanted to know if merely thinking about lifting weights was enough to increase strength. Study subjects were divided into four groups. One group tried to strengthen their finger muscles with physical exercise; one tried to strengthen their finger muscles by only visualizing the exercise; another tried to increase arm strength through visualization; while the last group did nothing at all. The trial lasted twelve weeks.When it was over, those who did nothing saw no gains. The group that relied on physical training saw the greatest increase in strength-at 53 percent. But it’s the mental groups where things got curious. Folks who did no physical training but merely imagined their fingers going through precise exercise motions saw a 35 percent increase in strength, while the ones who visualized arm exercises saw a 13.5 percent increase in strength.”Let’s review — these participants did NOTHING BUT VISUALIZING and saw an increase of up to 35% in strength!But things are all the more convincing when you consider that a few years before Yue’s studies, neuroscientists found no difference between performing an action and merely imagining oneself performing that action-the same neuronal circuits fire in either case.

      Experiments have shown that simply visualizing an can have great impacts.

    1. To see how this story unfolded, it’s worth going back to 2003. At the ETech conference that year, a keynote speech was given by the web enthusiast and writer Clay Shirky, now an academic at New York University, which surprised its audience by declaring that the task of designing successful online communities had little to do with technology at all. The talk looked back at one of the most fertile periods in the history of social psychology, and was entitled “A group is its own worst enemy”. Shirky drew on the work of the British psychoanalyst and psychologist Wilfred Bion, who, together with Kurt Lewin, was one of the pioneers of the study of “group dynamics” in the 40s. The central proposition of this school was that groups possess psychological properties that exist independently of their individual members. In groups, people find themselves behaving in ways that they never would if left to their own devices.

      Wilfred Bion and Kurt Lewin and group dynamics

  11. Jul 2020
    1. Kiedy zastanawiamy się nad czymś w języku obcym, to albo więcej myślimy, albo mniej czujemy. Moim jednak zdaniem bardziej prawdopodobne jest wytłumaczenie, że w języku obcym wszystko mnie mniej pobudza, w związku z tym emocje mniej mnie rozpraszają w racjonalnym myśleniu
    2. Język obcy - w porównaniu z ojczystym - sprawia więc, że kiedy napotykamy problem, jesteśmy bardziej skłonni, by rozwiązać go w sposób racjonalny. A mniej bierzemy pod uwagę, jakie normy etyczne rozwiązanie to nagina.