THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 16

After taking a test and getting it back, what will a person with a growth mindset do differently than a person with a fixed mindset?

Subject:  Fixed/Growth Mindset - John McEnroe

Event:  Birthday of John McEnroe, 1959

Today is the birthday of tennis great John McEnroe. He was born in 1959 in Germany, where his father was serving in the U.S. Army.  McEnroe is remembered not only for his masterful play as a singles champion but also for his many victories in doubles and mixed doubles. His most memorable matches came at Wimbledon in the 1980s, where he battled Bjorn Borg.

Although he won many major tennis titles and spent several years as the number one ranked tennis player in the world, John McEnroe is best remembered for his words and antics on the tennis court. Smashing tennis rackets and challenging umpire decisions, McEnroe became one of the most volatile and boisterous athletes ever.

Perhaps his best-known line was one shouted in the direction of an umpire at Wimbledon in 1981: “You cannot be serious!” This line became so often associated with McEnroe, that he used it for the title of his 2002 autobiography (1).

Another book that features McEnroe is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by psychologist Carol S. Dweck. In her book, Dweck uses McEnroe as an example of an individual with a fixed mindset.  People with a fixed mindset view character, intelligence, and ability as fixed and unchangeable.  As a result of this mindset, they often value looking smart or talented over actually being smart or talented.  Since they see intelligence and talent as fixed, they don’t see effort and persistence as valuable qualities.  Furthermore, they often fear failure as a judgment upon their person rather than seeing it as a learning opportunity. 

Dweck certainly is not arguing that McEnroe was not a successful, talented athlete; he was, after all, the number one ranked player for four years.  The issue with McEnroe, however, is that he could have been much better. For him, talent was the main thing.  He didn’t embrace opportunities to learn new things.  He hated to lose and always saw it as a negative rather than as a stepping stone to future success.  Instead of looking for lessons from a lost match, he looked for excuses, which is reflected in his constant focus on being a victim of the bad calls made by the umpires of his matches.  McEnroe won seven Grand Slam titles, but even he would probably agree that a less fixed mindset would have resulted in many more.

In contrast to those with a fixed mindset, people with a growth mindset view character, intelligence, and ability as qualities that change over time and that improve through conscious effort and persistence.  Instead of fearing failure, people with a growth mindset are able to embrace failure, learn from it and use it as a springboard for future success. 

As an example of an athlete who embodies the growth mindset, Dweck turns to basketball legend Michael Jordan.  Jordan was famously cut from his high school team, but instead of quitting basketball, he dedicated himself to proving himself worthy to play for the varsity.  When he won the NCAA basketball championship as just a freshman at North Carolina, he didn’t rest on his laurels.  He was always the hardest working player in practice, putting in extra effort to improve his weaknesses.  When he began his career in the NBA, he was one of the league’s leading scorers, but his team was not winning championships. Today we see him as a perennial champion, but he didn’t win his first championship until his seventh year in the NBA.  In those seven years, he put in countless hours of work to become more than just a great scorer.  He worked on becoming a better passer, a ball-handler, and a better teammate.  He knew that there was no way he could win a championship by himself, so not only did he need to make himself better through effort, he also needed to help his teammates improve.

To test your own mindset, try this thought experiment.  Imagine you are in a class, and you have just taken a quiz with fifty multiple-choice questions.  The quizzes are immediately scored and all posted on the classroom wall.  Obviously, you would probably first look at your own score, but which tests would you look at next.  Would you be drawn to the quizzes of the students who scored higher than you or the quizzes of those who scored lower?  According to Dweck, students with a growth mindset will seek out the quizzes with higher scores, looking for possible ways to learn from those who scored higher and seeking strategies to improve their deficiencies.  In contrast, students with a fixed mindset focus on the quizzes with lower scores than their own; because they don’t see intelligence as something that can be improved with effort, they seek consolation in the fact that others scored lower than they did (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, and how can you assess which you have?

Challenge - Game, Mindset, and Match:  Research some quotations by successful people about the role that hard work, effort, and persistence have in being successful.  Identify the one you like the best, quote it, and explain why you like it.

Sources:

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

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 15

How can the slogan “Remember the Maine” help us to remember how to avoid sinking into sloppy thinking habits?

Subject:  Confirmation Bias - “Remember the Maine!”

Event:  Explosion of the USS Maine, 1889

It is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not fancy. -Thucydides

On this day in 1889, the United States battleship Maine exploded while harbored in Havana, Cuba, killing 260 of the 400 sailors aboard.  The Maine had been sent to protect American interests when a Cuban revolt broke out against Spanish rule.  Although no clear cause for the explosion was proven definitively, a U.S. Naval Court of inquiry at the time placed the blame on a Spanish mine.  

Although he was initially against war with Spain, U.S. President William McKinley faced enormous public pressure to go to war.  The yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst inflamed American resentment against Spain, and cries of “Remember the Maine” increased tensions.  Finally, in April 1889, the U.S. declared war on Spain. 

                                                                     Image by Ira Gorelick from Pixabay 

The Spanish-American war lasted just five months.  Spain was not prepared to fight a distant war and was easily routed by the U.S.  As a result of the brief war, the U.S. acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, as well as temporary control of Cuba (1).

In 1976 an investigation into the explosion of the Maine by U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover cleared the Spanish.  Rickover concluded that the explosion was caused by spontaneous combustion in the ship’s coal bins (2).

Today, the mast of the Maine stands in Arlington National Cemetery as a memorial to the American sailors who lost their lives in Cuba.  We might also consider the Maine’s mast as a memorial to confirmation bias, the pervasive and dangerous cognitive bias that allows us to see what we want to see instead of the truth.  It blinds us to evidence that runs contrary to the truth we want to see but makes more prominent anything that will confirm the claim we want to support.  The feeling of being correct is more important to us than actually being correct. As author David McRaney says, “We basically had to invent science to stop ourselves from trying to solve problems by thinking in this way” (3).

The U.S. might have learned a powerful lesson about confirmation bias in 1889; however, it clearly did not.  More than a hundred years later, in 2003, the U.S. again fell prey to confirmation bias by going to war with Iraq.  The U.S. discounted evidence that indicated that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, instead it focused exclusively on any evidence that supported the theory that Iraq did have WMDs. 

“Remember the Maine” is one of the more memorable slogans of history.  Like “Remember the Alamo” before it and “Remember Pearl Harbor” after it, these bumper-sticker sized sentences remind us that slogans are not just about advertising a product; instead, they are about getting people to do something:  buy a product, vote for a candidate, or take arms against an enemy in war.  In fact, the etymology of the word “slogan” is from the Gaelic sluagh-ghairm, meaning “army-shout” or “battle cry” (4).

“Remember the Maine” features two principles that make it stick in the mind.  First, it is stated as an imperative sentence; second, it is clear and concise.  Nothing arrests the attention like a short imperative sentence.  Stated as a command, an imperative sentence like “Remember the Maine” doesn’t need to waste time stating a subject; instead, the slogan begins with a verb that acts like the blast of a starting gun telling us to “Go!”  In addition to being a call to action or a call to arms, great slogans make every word count.  They are micro-messages, and the fewer the words, the greater they stick.

 

For more proof the effectiveness of the concise imperative slogan, read the examples below — each one with no more than six words:

Eat fresh

Make believe

Think Small

Think different

Challenge everything

Just Do It!

Obey your thirst

Dig for Victory

Spread the happy

Ban the Bomb

Have it your way

Say it with Flowers

Fly the friendly skies

Save Money. Live Better

Don’t Leave Home Without It

Twist the cap to refreshment

Reach Out and touch someone

Buy it. Sell it. Love it.

Put a Tiger in Your Tank

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How can the slogan “Remember The Maine!” help us remember how to avoid the cognitive bias known as confirmation bias?

Today’s Challenge - Build a Better Battle Cry:  What is an existing product or cause that you would be willing to promote?  Brainstorm some products, causes, and some original imperative slogans.  When you have found one that works, write a brief letter to the company or to someone representing the cause, and make your pitch for your slogan.  Why do you think it works and should be used to promote the product/cause?  Make your case. 

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-February 15:  Nirvana Day

Parinirvana is a Mahayana Buddhist festival that marks the death of the Buddha. It is also known as Nirvana Day and is celebrated on February 15th.  (See THINKER’S ALMANAC - December 8 Bodhi Day

-February 15:  The Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born on this day in 1564.  He said, “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”  For more on Galileo, see Thinker’s Almanac - January 7.

Sources:

1-Cavendish, Richard. “The Sinking of the Maine.” History Today Volume 48 Issue 2, 2 Feb. 1998.

2-”Better Late Than Never?: Rickover Clears Spain of the Maine Explosion”  History Matters.

3-McRaney, David. “Confirmation Bias.”  You Are Not So Smart.  June 23, 2010.

  4-”Slogan” Etymology Online.

Reading Check:

-What are two wars that happened because of confirmation bias?

-What is NOT an example of an imperative sentence?

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 14

How can thinking in the box be just as powerful for creativity as thinking outside the box?

Subject:  Creativity/Problem-Solving - Zwicky’s Box

Event:  Birthday of Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky, 1898

Born on Valentine’s Day in 1898, Fritz Zwicky was a man who loved ideas.  As an astronomer, he is known for his discovery of dark matter, and he not only discovered many supernovae, he also coined the term “supernova.”

Perhaps Zwicky’s greatest discovery, though, was a strategy that allows anyone -- even non-astrophysicists -- to generate new ideas.  The strategy is called morphological analysis, a method that begins by identifying the parameters of a problem followed by generating alternative options for each parameter.  The magic comes from randomly combining different parameter options to spark creativity.  Zwicky was so proud of his invention that he compared it to the mystical practice of alchemy:  “I feel that I have finally found the philosopher’s stone in what I call the morphological outlook and method” (1).

                                                                        Image by Dorothe from Pixabay 

To illustrate the process, imagine you were presented with the problem of designing a new office trash can.  To begin, you would generate a variety of different parameters that make up a typical trash can, such as “size,” “material,” “shape,” “position,” and “additional features.”  List each of these parameters at the top of a piece of paper.  Next, under each parameter, you would brainstorm possible alternatives for each parameter; for example, under “additional

features” you might list “a paper shredder,” ‘a clock,” “a whiteboard,” “hole punch,” and “stapler/staple remover.” Once you have a variety of options under each parameter, you should now have a matrix of options that make up a morphological box, also known as a Zwicky Box.  Once you have created your box, the magic can now begin by randomly combining different parameter options.  Imagine, for example, if you generated just five options for each parameter; a 5 x 5 matrix like this would generate over 3,000 different possible combinations.  Because the human brain loves associations, you can use each random combination as a spark to produce a new idea for a never-before-seen or produced office trash can.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How is a Zwicky Box used to generate ideas?

Challenge - Thinking Inside the Zwicky Box:  Imagine you are working for a greeting card company.  Your job is to produce new ideas for a Valentine’s Day card. Using the parameters and options below or ones that you create on your own, randomly combine some options to generate some ideas.  Write a pitch for your best idea, or better yet, create the card as your prototype.

Zwicky Box with Valentine’s Day Card Parameters

THEME	FEATURE	SHAPE	MESSAGE FORM	STYLE
animals	pop up	heart	sonnet	humorous
hearts	recorded message	rectangle	rhyming couplets	elegant
famous lovers	music	oval	pun	traditional
candy	scratch and sniff	diamond	hyperbole	quirky
vintage/nostalgia	confetti	amorphous	metaphor	ironic

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-February 14, 1954:  Today is the birthday of cartoonist and creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groenig.  He said, “Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.”

Sources:

1-”Remembering Zwicky”

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 13

How can a number-one hit by The Osmonds in 1971 encourage us to avoid a negative mindset?

Subject:  Contagion Bias/Negativity Bias - “One Bad Apple”

Event:  The song “One Bad Apple” hits number 1, 1971

On this day in 1971, the song “One Bad Apple” by The Osmonds hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.  In the song, The Osmonds attempt to counter the traditional proverb “One bad apple can spoil the bunch.”  The song’s male protagonist is singing to a girl who has had a bad experience in a previous relationship.  The singer pleads with her to give him a chance:

One bad apple don't

Spoil the whole bunch, girl

Oh, give it one more try

Before you give up on love

                                                            Image by Angela Yuriko Smith from Pixabay 

Despite the song’s attempt to rebut the proverb, research by psychologist Paul Rozin confirms the proverb’s wisdom.  In his research with cockroaches and food, he has confirmed that it takes very little of something bad to contaminate something good.  For example, after sterilizing a dead cockroach and dipping it quickly into a glass of apple juice, Rozin’s subjects refused to take a sip.  Furthermore, most of Rozin’s subjects were unwilling to drink any apple juice at all after hearing about the association of cockroaches with it -- even when the apple juice was from a fresh, untainted carton.  Rozin calls this effect the contagion bias, which leads us to avoid contact with people or objects that we view as contaminated by contact with something bad.

The contagion bias is a specific phenomenon that’s a subcategory of a larger effect known as negativity bias.  In short, “Bad is stronger than good.” When it comes to the human species, negative experiences have a greater impact on us than positive ones.  In the book The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It, John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister review research that demonstrates how, for example, we pay much more attention to criticism than we do to praise; likewise, penalties motivate us more than rewards do, and we fear losses more than we value gains.  It appears that humans are hardwired to see the glass as half empty rather than half full.

Our negative default makes sense when you think of how our ancestors survived.  Those who cautiously lived by Murphy’s law - what can go wrong will go wrong - were the ones who survived.  In a hostile environment where you 

were potential prey for a hungry predator, being vigilantly on the lookout for danger was much more important than focusing on, say, a beautiful sunrise.

Knowledge of the contagion bias and the negativity bias is the beginning of having power over them.  Another antidote is what Tierney and Baumeister call the Rule of Four:  “It takes four good things to overcome one bad thing.”  Realize that as you go through your day, negative events will have a larger effect on you; because of this, try to maintain a realistic perspective.  Take a conscious inventory of positive things, realizing that you will need more of them to overcome the power of a single negative thing.  

For example, say you make a New Year’s resolution to exercise every day.  Be realistic enough to know that at some point you will fail, missing a day of exercise.  Instead of letting the failure overwhelm you and cause you to abandon your resolution, recognize that you are not perfect.  Employ the Rule of Four by resolving to overcome the negative feelings of failure by sticking to your exercise regimen for the next four out of five days (1).

Another antidote to the negativity bias is to look outside yourself to find everyday wonders that you might have otherwise overlooked.  One of the best ways to look outside yourself is to go outside.  Notice, for example, how the speaker in the following poem is nudged by nature:

DUST OF SNOW by Robert Frost

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the Rule of Four, and how does it relate to the negativity bias?

Challenge -The Glass As You See It:

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. -George Will

An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out? -Rene Descartes

Do you tend to see the glass of life as half empty or half full?  Do some research on quotations about either optimism or pessimism.  Write out the one you like the best and explain why you like it.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:   

February 13, 1766:  British economist Thomas Robert Malthus was born on this day in 1766.  He is known for his theories regarding population growth.  In his book An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), he said, “...nothing is so easy as to find fault with human institutions; nothing so difficult as to suggest adequate practical improvements.”

February 13, 1890:  On this day English writer Samuel Butler (1835-1902) presented a lecture in London entitled “Thought And Language.”  In the course of his lecture on language, Butler presented a metaphorical definition of the word “definition”:

Definitions . . . are like steps cut in a steep slope of ice, or shells thrown onto a greasy pavement; they give us foothold, and enable us to advance, but when we are at our journey’s end we want them no longer.

Sources:

1-Tierney, John and Roy F. Baumeister. The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It. New York:  Penguin Press, 2019.