Intuitions are quick and convincing, and often get the job done. But not always, and when they’re wrong, we need to know about it.
Category: <span>Brain Hacks</span>
Ulysses is said to have tied himself to the flagpole of his ship, so that as he sailed past the sirens and heard their beautiful voices, he wouldn’t be able to steer the ship into…
A psychologist, designer, and behavioural economist walk into a lab, and out comes a font for remembering more of what you read.
I’d like to put your mind to the test. Try adding 1 to each of these numbers individually: 4826. It’s not too difficult. The result is 5937. Now, when we get to 9, adding 1…
With unlimited choice comes unlimited ways to be disappointed. The Fox and the Cat is an ancient fable that highlights this point. In the story, the fox brags of his many tactics and maneuvers of escape,…
Making people think more rationally can be achieved by breaking their expectations. For example, you might change the obituaries to seem as though people are happy about the death. You might replace some of your…
Curiosity, according to Ian Leslie, is said to come about by our awareness of an information gap. An information gap is that uncomfortable feeling that you don’t know something you think you should. You recognize the known…
Each time we recall a memory, we change it subtly, altering the small details, and doing so unknowingly. Over time, these small details can end up changing a great deal of the original memory. They…
Natalie Portman recently gave a commencement speech at Harvard. She made an interesting point about inexperience and originality: “Fear protects us in many ways, but what has served me is diving into my own obliviousness.…
“Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives,…