The slow, deliberative mind is where we plan strategy, execute plans, and exercise self-control over our more impulsive, heuristic mind. But methodical thinking takes lots of energy, and it also takes practice–as I argue throughout On Second Thought. Here is some fascinating new research suggesting that if we hone our executive skills–specifically one called working… Read more
I wish I had been aware of this when I was writing the book. It’s really just a twist on the familiarity heuristic, which says that we’re more comfortable with what we know; it’s safer, and feels less threatening. And so it is with ideas and art and invention: Although we all celebrate creativity in… Read more
In the March 26, 1949 issue of The New Yorker, James Thurber published one of his wittiest essays, entitled “What a Lovely Generalization!” In it, the self-described collector of odd things describes his latest collecting passion—broad generalizations overheard in conversation. I find the essay amusing because I do this a lot more than I probably… Read more
Ours has been called the era of cognitive psychology, and indeed we see new research findings cropping up in the most unlikely of places these days. Here, from last Sunday’s New York Times travel section, is a smart piece on “Planning the Perfect Vacation” that cites the work of several prominent psychologists, including Nobel laureate… Read more
Chapter five of On Second Thought, called The Mimicry Heuristic: Feeling Your Inner Ape, is about our powerful and automatic tendency to connect with others–emotionally, neurologically, physically. And–like the entire book–it’s about the perils of letting those automatic tendencies go unchecked. Here is a new piece of research that adds to the view that the… Read more
Norway has no death penalty, so that’s not an option for meting out justice to mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik. In fact, the harshest prison sentence Breivik could possibly end up serving is 21 years for slaying 76 innocent people. Will that punishment satisfy Norwegians’ sense of justice–our sense of justice? How about our sense… Read more
Over the past weekend, I along with everyone else read the sad story of soul singer Amy Winehouse’s early death, presumably from drug overdose or complications. And I have since read many commentaries–many kind, a few insightful, most judgmental and uninformed about the nature of addiction. It’s impossible to know what was going on with… Read more
In his column about the debt limit debate in this week’s New Yorker, financial columnist James Surowiecki introduces insights from cognitive psychology. Some pundits argue that it’s a good thing that negotiators–that is, Congress and the White House–are under the gun, but science shows otherwise. Citing Dutch psychologist Carsten de Dreu, Surowiecki writes: “Time pressure… Read more