Category Archives: Cognitive Psychology

Articles on the acquisition, processing, and storing of information, and the exploration of internal mental states

Dan Gilbert: Why We Make Bad Decisions (Video)

From buying a burger, to eating chips, to playing the lottery — Dan Gilbert examines the decision-making process and attempts to explain why we make bad choices. He speaks about the significance of Bernoulli’s equation to everyday life and posits that humans are not very adept at calculating “expected value.” Gilbert also highlights how our decisions can change when making comparisons with the past instead of with the possible, as well as how time impacts decision-making and satisfaction.

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Rory Sutherland: Sweat the Small Stuff (Video)

In this video Rory Sutherland talks about the importance of perspective in achieving success. He argues that big problems do not necessarily require big fixes and that by paying attention to the details, we can often find simpler, cheaper and better solutions.

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Elizabeth Gilbert: A New Way to Think About Creativity (Video)

In the video above, Elizabeth Gilbert muses on society’s general beliefs that (1) creativity and suffering are inherently linked, and (2) artistry ultimately leads to anguish. She claims that the immense responsibility and pressure of “being a genius” has been “killing off artists for the last 500 years.” Gilbert goes on to suggest that the antiquated Greek and Roman approach of externalizing the creative process, that is, seeing an extremely creative person as “having a genius” as opposed to “being a genius” would dramatically reduce the “inherent emotional risks of creativity.”

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