THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 18

How can four letters of the alphabet help you to understand yourself and others better?

 

Subject: Personality - Myers Briggs 

Event: Birthday of Isabel Briggs Myers, 1897

Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of high courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of existence coupled with the greatest possible freedom for self-determination. -Carl Jung

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a questionnaire that helps people understand their psychological preferences and identify distinct characteristics of their personalities.  Since it was first developed in 1944, the MBTI has become one of the most popular personality assessments.  Its questionnaire is published in 29 different languages in 115 countries.  

Image by Elisa from Pixabay

The MBTI was created by the mother-daughter team of Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, who was born on this day in 1897.  Despite the fact that neither had formal psychological training, both were fascinated by the topic of personality.  Katharine first gained notoriety as a writer when she wrote a parenting column in the 1920s; her primary subject was the details of how she was raising and educating her daughter Isabel.  When Isabel left home for college, Katharine became depressed and began reading the works of Carl Jung.  Jung’s theory of psychological types captivated Katharine, and she adapted his work to develop her own method of categorizing personality types.  

The key to the success of MBTI, however, came later when Katharine collaborated with Isabel to develop a questionnaire with 117 questions that would help people identify the individual indicators of their personality.  Katharine sold her system to Edward N. Hay in 1944, and the timing could not have been better.  The post-World War II jobs boom made the MBTI an easy instrument to sell as businesses looked for effective ways to fill jobs with workers who were the right fit.

The MBTI is organized around four dichotomies of personality preferences:

I. Energy - How do you acquire energy, and are you more outwardly or more inwardly focused?  

-Extrovert (Energized by spending time with people:  social, active, expressive, outspoken)

-Introvert (Energized by spending time alone or in a small group: independent, reserved, thoughtful)

II. Information - How do you take in information about your world? 

-Sensing (Interested in empirical, concrete information, what can be directly perceived by the five senses.  Hands-on, realistic, practical, sequential, detail-oriented).

-Intuition (Interested in abstract thinking, such as concepts or theories:  future and big picture oriented, idealistic, creative)

III. Decision Making - How do you prefer to make decisions?  

-Thinking (Make decisions based on reason and logic:  objective, rational)

-Feeling (Make decisions with the heart: subjective, compassionate, seek harmony)

IV. Order/Organization - How do you prefer to get things done and to live your life? 

-Judging (Appreciate order, structure, and planning.  Like rules and following a process.

-Perceiving (Appreciate flexibility and spontaneity. Like to improvise and embrace surprises and novelty) (1)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What are the differences between the following dichotomies in the MBTI:  extrovert/introvert, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, judging/perceiving?

Challenge - Your Four: For each of the four dichotomies, assess your own personality.  Which do you think sums you up the best?

Extrovert (E) or Introvert (I), 

Sensing (S) or Intuition (N), 

Thinking (T) or Feeling (F), 

Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Once you have determined your four preferences, do some research on your four letter combination (There are sixteen different possible combinations.  Explain whether or not the descriptions you find about your four letter combination fit what you know about your own personality.

Sources:

1-https://forge.medium.com/the-capitalist-origins-of-the-myers-briggs-personality-test-309187757d4e

THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 17

How can looking at a four-year-old’s attitude toward jigsaw puzzles help us better understand our motivation to learn?

Subject:  Mindset  - Jigsaw Puzzle Study

Birthday of Carol Dweck, 1946

Two men look out through the same bars; One sees the mud, and one the stars. -Frederick Langridge

Today is the birthday of Stanford professor Carol Dweck.  Born in 1946, Dweck’s work has been highly influential in helping us understand human motivation.  Her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success provides insights into the nature of human intelligence and how our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, can influence our attitudes and our effort.

Dweck’s work describes two mindsets:  the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.  A person with a fixed mindset believes that intelligence, talent, and character are static, and they cannot be changed.  A person with a growth mindset, however, believes that intelligence, talent, and character are fluid, and that they can be changed through hard work, experience, and effort.

Image by Annalisa I. from Pixabay

The two mindsets are most prominent when we look at students’ attitudes toward learning.  In one of Dweck’s studies, she gave four-year-olds a puzzle to complete.  Once they completed the puzzle, each child was then offered one of two options:  one, redo an easy jigsaw puzzle or two, try a harder puzzle.  The students who believed that their intelligence and talents were fixed chose the safe option of redoing an easy puzzle; in contrast, those who believed that they could become smarter through effort, chose to challenge themselves.

Older students might assess their own mindsets by thinking about the following scenarios.  

Imagine you’re in class.  The teacher asks a question.  In thinking about the question, you have an answer, but you're not certain it is right.  Would you raise your hand?  A student with a fixed mindset most likely would not raise her hand, for fear of giving the wrong answer.  The student with a fixed mindset sees a wrong answer as a threat to her ego since she sees being wrong as a final judgment on her lack of intelligence.  A student with a growth mindset, however, would most likely raise her hand, seeing it as a win-win scenario and as an opportunity to check her understanding of her learning.  If she is right, she will confirm what she knows, and if she is wrong, she will have an opportunity to correct her misunderstanding.

Imagine a second scenario.  You are in class the day after completing a test.  You did not do very well.  The teacher then offers you a choice.  One, you can look at the tests of students who did worse than you did, or two, you can look at the tests of students who scored higher than you did.  Which would you choose?  In this scenario, students with a fixed mindset typically choose to look at the tests of students who did worse than they did since this helps them feel better about themselves.  Students with a growth mindset, however, chose to look at the tests of those who scored higher than they did since this offers an opportunity to see what they got wrong and to correct their mistakes.

At the core of each of the two mindsets is a distinctly different attitude toward failure and learning.  For the person with a fixed mindset failure is to be feared.  Since they see intelligence as fixed, any failure is a challenge to their self-esteem.  As a result, they frequently will not even attempt new challenges for fear that it might threaten their self image as a smart person.  For the person with a growth mindset, failure is not something to fear; instead, it is an opportunity to identify weaknesses and to focus on specific areas that can be improved with effort and practice. Instead of a final judgment that they are not smart, people with a growth mindset see failure as an opportunity to get smarter.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did Dweck’s jigsaw puzzle experiments illustrate the difference between the fixed and growth mindset?

Challenge - Fix Your Mindset and Grow:  Write a public service announcement for elementary ages students that explains the fixed and growth mindsets.  Try to persuade the audience that they should embrace the growth mindset both in school and in life.

Sources:

1-Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York:  Ballantine Books, 2006

THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 16

How is human memory more like a Wikipedia page than a videotape?

Subject:  False Memories/Misinformation Effect - Loftus’ Crash Study

Event:  Birthday of Elizabeth Loftus, 1944

We all have memories that are malleable and susceptible to being contaminated or supplemented in some way. -Elizabeth Loftus

Possibly no person in history besides Herman Ebbinghaus (1850 – 1909) (See Thinker’s Almanac - January 19) has done more to help us understand human memory than cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus.

Loftus, who was born on this day in 1944, conducted seminal experiments in the 1970s that have helped us understand that memory isn’t just about what we forget or what we remember; it is very much about what we remember that never happened.

In her experiments, Loftus would show her subjects a short film of a car accident.  She would then ask the subjects a question, such as how fast were the cars going when they “hit” each other, or how fast were the cars going when they “smashed” into each other.  What she discovered was that the difference of just one verb in a question altered a witness's estimate of the speed.  When she used the word “hit,” witnesses estimated the speed was 34 mph, but when she used the word “smashed,” the estimate was 41 mph.

Image by Netto Figueiredo from Pixabay

Furthermore, when the witnesses were later asked whether or not they had seen any broken glass, the group of witnesses who had been asked the “smashed” question were twice as likely to report broken glass than the witnesses who were asked the “hit” question.  In reality, there had been no broken glass in the film.

Loftus’ experiments reveal the fact that our memory is not a videotape that simply records sights and sounds, rather it is more like a Wikipedia page, which can be altered by ourselves or by others.  The misinformation effect is the tendency for our memories to be altered by information that we encounter after an initial memory.  Memory, therefore, isn’t just about whether or not we are able to accurately recall past events; it is also how memory is influenced and altered by information we receive after an initial memory is formed.

This understanding of the true nature of memory is especially important for courts of law where the memory of eyewitnesses can be subtly influenced by the word choice of the questions they are asked.  Based on her research into false memory and the misinformation effect, Loftus has testified in hundreds of court cases, helping juries to understand the malleability and fallibility of human memory.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the misinformation effect, and how did Elizabeth Loftus’ car accident experiments illustrate it?

Challenge - Jury Duty PSA:  Write a public service announcement aimed at citizens who will be participating in jury duty.  Explain the way memory truly works and how the misinformation effect might impact the way witnesses recall their testimony.

Sources: 

1-Cherry, Kenra “The Misinformation Effect and False Memories.” Verywellmind.com 4 Oct. 2020.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 15

How can a vaccination we get as a child help us understand the role of adversity in our lives?

Subject: Antifragile - Nietzche’s Dictum

Event:  Birthday of Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844

If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how. -Friedrich Nietzsche

Today is the birthday of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who was born in 1844.  The son of a Lutheran minister, Nietzsche famously proclaimed that “God is dead.”  This was not meant as a celebratory claim; instead, Nietzsche’s philosophy was an attempt to replace religion’s dogma, superstitions, and ancient texts with enlightened philosophy and art.  Nietzsche’s “Superman” was not a superhero; instead, it was a heroic posture that any person could take if he or she were committed to creativity, independence, self-control, and the passionate and unapologetic pursuit of individual growth.  

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

One of Nietzsche’s best-known aphorisms is “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”  Although it was first recorded in 1888, it is just as, if not more, relevant today.  The aphorism was adopted in 2018 by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in their book The Coddling of the American Mind.  As the authors explain, “Human beings need physical and mental challenges and stressors or we deteriorate.”  Just as the muscles of astronauts weaken when they are not challenged by the forces of gravity, children who are overprotected do not develop the necessary skills to learn and grow from failure or adversity.  

Unlike a glass teacup, which is fragile, or a plastic drinking cup, which is resilient, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that human beings are antifragile (a term they borrowed from author Nassim Nicholas Taleb). The term antifragile refers to the fact that some systems are not just resilient; instead, they actually require stressors in order to adapt and grow.  For example, our immune systems require exposure to different foods and bacteria in order to adapt and develop immunity.  Also, we give children vaccines in order to expose them to “threats in small doses, thereby giving children’s immune systems the opportunity to learn how to fend off similar threats in the future.”   By analogy, Lukianoff and Haidt argue that we should use Nietsche’s aphorism as a guide to helping young people develop their characters by exposing them to challenges and stressors in small doses in order to help them grow more resilient.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What are the differences between the idea of fragile versus antifragile, and how do these concepts relate to the development of character?

Challenge - Aphorisms About Adversity:  Is it true that adversity makes us stronger rather than weaker?  Do we need setbacks, failures, and challenges to develop our characters?  Research some quotations about what people have said about adversity.  Then, select one quotation that you like, and explain what insight it gives you about the role of adversity in life.

Sources:

1-The School of Life.  Great Thinkers.  London:  The School of Life, 2016.

2-Lukianoff, Greg and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling of the American Mind. New York:  Penguin Press, 2018.

 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 14

How can horses teach us to be more fearless public speakers?

Subject:  Public Speaking and Perseverance - Carnegie’s Horse Analogy

Event:  Theodore Roosevelt survives an assassination attempt, 1912

On this day in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot by an unemployed saloon keeper in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Roosevelt was nearing the end of his campaign for president. Having left politics after his second term as U.S. president in 1909, he returned for a run at an unprecedented third term when his hand-picked successor William Taft did not live up to his expectations.  For this campaign, Roosevelt formed a new political party, The Bull Moose Party (officially called the National Progressive Party).

On the evening of October 14th, Roosevelt was leaving his hotel in Milwaukee to make a campaign speech.  Just as he was entering the car that would take him to the auditorium, an unemployed saloonkeeper named John Schrank, standing a few feet away, fired a shot from his Colt .38 revolver into Roosevelt’s chest.  Schrank was immediately tackled and arrested, and Roosevelt’s handlers prepared to whisk him away to the hospital.  Roosevelt, however, refused, demanding to be taken immediately to the auditorium to fulfill his campaign appearance.

Only when he arrived backstage at the auditorium did Roosevelt allow himself to be examined by doctors.  Their exam revealed that a bullet had indeed pierced Roosevelt’s chest.  Although he was bleeding, the shot was not fatal; fortunately for Roosevelt, the bullet’s path had been slowed by the folded 50-page speech he carried in his breast pocket. Stepping up to the podium, Roosevelt revealed his bloody shirt and the bullet-pierced manuscript of his speech to the audience.  He began by saying:  “Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot—but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”

Only after speaking for more than an hour did Roosevelt step away from the podium.  On Election Day, November 5th, Roosevelt lost the election to the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson.  John Schrank spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.  In a somewhat Shakespearean twist, Schrank claimed that the ghost of President William McKinley had appeared to him and ordered the hit; it was McKinley’s assassination that had made Roosevelt president in 1901.

Today, visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History can view a bullet-pierced page of Roosevelt’s speech.  The bullet, however, remained lodged in Roosevelt’s rib for the rest of his life.  He died in his sleep in 1919 and is buried at Oyster Bay, New York (1).

Unlike many people, Theodore Roosevelt did not fear public speaking.  According to the Washington Post, public speaking is the biggest phobia of Americans, followed by fear of heights, drowning, strangers, zombies, and clowns (in that order) (2).

One antidote to overcoming the fear of public speaking is to face your fears head-on, as explained in the following analogy by Dale Carnegie in his book The Art of Public Speaking:

Image by Freddy from Pixabay

Did you ever notice in looking from a train window that some horses feed near the track and never even pause to look up at the thundering cars, while just ahead at the next railroad crossing a farmer’s wife will be nervously trying to quiet her scared horse as the train goes by?

How would you cure a horse that is afraid of cars—graze him in a back-woods lot where he would never see steam-engines or automobiles, or drive or pasture him where he would frequently see the machines?

Apply horse-sense to ridding yourself of self-consciousness and fear: face an audience as frequently as you can, and you will soon stop shying. You can never attain freedom from stage-fright by reading a treatise. A book may give you excellent suggestions on how best to conduct yourself in the water, but sooner or later you must get wet, perhaps even strangle and be “half scared to death.” There are a great many “wetless” bathing suits worn at the seashore, but no one ever learns to swim in them. To plunge is the only way. (3)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What are the differences between the two horses that Carnegie described, and how does the analogy explain how to overcome the fear of public speaking?

Challenge -  I came, I saw, I spoke:  How can people best acquire the courage to confront and conquer their fears of public speaking? What are your top three go-to topics for a brief speech? You’re not always given the chance to pick your own topic; however, choosing and preparing speeches on topics you care about is an excellent way to gain the kind of confidence you need to speak under any circumstances (even with a bullet lodged in your chest). For example, when Julius Caesar was a young man, he was kidnapped by pirates; to kill time during his captivity, he composed short speeches and poems and read them aloud to his captors. Brainstorm a list of your go-to speech topics — topics that you know something about and are passionate about.  Then compose a short speech sharing your passion with an audience.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-October 14, 1066:  At Hastings in Sussex, England, the Saxon army of King Harold confronted an invading army of French-speaking soldiers from Normandy, a province of France just across the English Channel.  The Battle of Hastings was fought from approximately 9:00 AM to dusk.  Thousands of soldiers died that day, and the Norman army, led by William, Duke of Normandy, prevailed.  Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow, and William marched his victorious army to London, where he was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066.  Scenes from the bloody battle are depicted in the colorful Bayeux Tapestry, a 229 foot long embroidered cloth, which was commissioned by William's brother not long after the battle (4).

Sources:

1-O’Toole, Patricia. “The Speech That Saved Teddy Roosevelt’s Life.” Smithsonian Mag.com Nov. 2012. 

2-Croston, Glenn. “The Thing We Fear More Than Death.” Psychology Today.com 29 Nov. 2012. 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - October 13

How did the defeat of England in 1066 lead to the growth and enrichment of the English language?

Subject:  Language - Plain English

Event:  Battle of Hastings, 1066 

Clear language engenders clear thought, and clear thought is the most important benefit of education. -Richard Mitchell

The year 1066 marks the most important year in the history of the English language.  On October 13th of that year, William of Normandy arrived with his army at Hastings in Sussex, England.  The following day, October 14th, the Battle of Hastings took place.  It’s a battle that might have signaled the beginning of the extinction of the English language; instead, it marks the beginning of a remarkable evolution and enrichment of the language.

At Hastings, the Saxon army of King Harold confronted William’s invading army of French-speaking soldiers from Normandy, a province of France just across the English Channel. The Battle of Hastings was fought from approximately 9 am to dusk. Thousands of soldiers died that day, and the Norman army, led by William, Duke of Normandy, prevailed.  Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow, and William marched his victorious army to London, where he was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066.

Scenes from the bloody battle are depicted in the colorful Bayeux Tapestry, a 229 feet long embroidered cloth, which was commissioned by William’s brother not long after the battle (1).

Image by Siggy Nowak from Pixabay

William the Conqueror was now King of England.  The French-speaking Normans thus ruled England, and Norman-French, as well as Latin, became the language of government.  The Saxons were defeated, but their language did not die.  The conquering Normans were outnumbered by the Saxons, who continued to use English in their common, everyday activities.  So instead of being stamped out by French, English adsorbed French words, enriching its lexicon over the next two hundred years.

The Norman Invasion of 1066 marks the end of the Old English period of the history of English and the beginning of the Middle English period.  One of the rich legacies of this period is the great variety of words and rich well of synonyms that are characteristic of English.   We can see this difference illustrated by the Anglo-Saxon words ask, end, fear, and dead and their synonyms of French derivation, question, finish, terror, and deceased.  Some writers argue that we should favor the short, precise words of Anglo-Saxon origin over the longer words derived from French, Latin, or Greek.  Winston Churchill, for example, expressed his bias when he said, “Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.”

Nearly one thousand years after the Battle of Hastings, the U.S. Government legislated the use of clear language in government.  On this day in 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Plain Writing Act.  Its purpose was to “improve the effectiveness and accountability of Federal agencies to the public by promoting clear Government communication that the public can understand and use.”  The bill encouraged the use of clear and concise language and discouraged the use of euphemisms and uncommon vocabulary (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did the Battle of Hastings contribute to adding words to the English language?  What are examples of Anglo-Saxon words that have French synonyms?

Challenge:  Saxon Short Short Story

Is it possible to tell an effective story or give an effective speech using words of only a single syllable?  One way to test Churchill’s claim is to try your hand at writing using words of only one syllable.  It’s also an excellent way to learn to pay careful attention to your word choice.  In general, the foundational Anglo-Saxon words in English are one-syllable words, unlike words from French, Latin, or Greek, which tend to be more than a single syllable.  Write a narrative of at least 200 words, and make sure to use only one-syllable words. 

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

October 13, 1959:  On this day an episode called “Love is a Science” on the television show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis first aired.  In the episode, Zelda Gilroy introduces Dobie to a psychological concept called the propinquity effect, which describes the tendency for people to form romantic relationships with the individuals they encounter most often.  Zelda assures Dobie that he would eventually fall for her since their last similar last names -- Gillis and Gilroy -- frequently put them in close proximity throughout their school day.

Sources:

1-Bayeux Museum. The Bayeux Tapestry.

2-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_Writing_Act_of_2010