THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 6

In 1921, what great American athlete pioneered sports psychology by visiting a university psych lab?

Subject:  Sports Psychology - Babe Ruth Visits a Psych Lab

Event:  Birthday of Babe Ruth, 1895

How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball... The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. -Babe Ruth

Baseball great Babe Ruth was born on this day in 1895.  Twenty-six years later, sports psychology was born when a sportswriter took Ruth to visit the Columbia University Psychological Laboratory.

The writer was Hugh S. Fullerton, who was curious to know the secret behind Ruth’s unrivaled athletic ability.  Not only was Ruth the best hitter in baseball but also his numbers dwarfed those of all other players.  In 1920, for example, Ruth hit 54 home runs, which was more than the total number of home runs hit by 14 of the 16 major league teams.  Ruth still holds the Major League Baseball record for slugging percentage at .6897; Ted Williams is in second place at .6338 (1).

Based on Ruth’s visit to Columbia, Fullerton published the article “Why Babe Ruth is the Greatest Home Run Hitter” in Popular Science Monthly in 1921. In the article, Fullerton detailed the battery of tests administered to Ruth.  In the following passage, Fullerton describes a test that revealed Ruth’s superior vision:

For instance, they had an apparatus with a sort of a camera shutter arrangement that opened, winked, and closed at any desired speed. Cards with letters of the alphabet on them were placed behind this shutter and exposed to view for one fifty-thousandth of a second. Ruth read them as they flashed into view, calling almost instantly the units of groups of three, four, five, and six letters. With eight shown he got the first six, and was uncertain of the others. The average person can see four and one half letters on the same test.

                                                            Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay 

Summing up the conclusions of all the tests, Fullerton said the following:

[The scientists] of Columbia University discovered that the secret of Babe Ruth's batting, reduced to non-scientific terms, is that his eyes and ears function more rapidly than those of other players; that his brain records sensations more quickly and transmits its orders to the muscles much faster than does that of the average man. The tests proved that the coordination of eye, brain, nerve system, and muscle is practically perfect . . . . (2)

Fullerton’s vision for combining sports and psychology was way ahead of its time.  Sport psychology would not become a psychological specialty until the 1960s. 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did the tests administered to Babe Ruth in Columbia’s psych lab identify what set him apart from other players as a great hitter?

Challenge:  Where There’s a Will There’s A Win:  Successful athletes frequently attribute their success not just to their physical abilities but also to their mental abilities.  Do some research on quotations by athletes, talking about their mental approach to their sport.  Identify one quote that you particularly like, and explain why it stands out to you.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-February 6th Each Year:  On this day the people of Switzerland celebrate Hom Strom, the ceremonial burning of a straw man that symbolizes the approaching end of winter.  This event reminds us of how flimsy the straw man argument is, and how we should construct our arguments with the much more sturdy steel man (See THINKER’S ALMANAC - January 8 or April 18).

Sources:

1-Baseball Reference.  “Career Leaders, Slugging Percentage”

2-Fullerton, Hugh S. “Why Babe Ruth is Greatest Home-Run Hitter.”  Popular Science Monthly, 1921.

Reading Check:

-When tests were administered to Babe Ruth, what parts of his body were shown to be the secret to his athletic ability?

-In what publication did Hugh S. Fullerton publish his article on Babe Ruth in 1921? 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 5

For Seneca, how was life like a dog tied to a cart?

Subject:  Premeditation - Seneca’s Prescription

Event:  Earthquake in Campania, Italy, 62 AD

A commander never puts such trust in peace that he fails to prepare for a war. 

-Seneca

 

The Stoic philosopher Seneca was born in Spain in 4 B.C.  He was educated in Rome.  After achieving a prestigious position in politics as a financial clerk, his fortunes took a dark turn.  Accused of committing adultery with the emperor’s niece, he was exiled by the Roman Emperor Claudius to the island of Corsica.  Seneca’s fortunes changed eight years later when Claudius’ wife Agrippina allowed him to return to Rome as the tutor for her son and future emperor, Nero.  After working as Nero’s tutor for five years and as his aide for another ten, Seneca found himself again at the bottom of Fortune’s wheel.  After Nero uncovered a conspiracy to have him removed as emperor, he executed a purge of the people in his inner circle.  This included Seneca who was sentenced to death by suicide.  In 65 A.D. Seneca bled to death after he severed veins on his arms and legs. 

 

Three years prior to his death -- on February 5, 62 A.D. -- an event occurred in Pompeii, Italy, that served as an allegory for Seneca’s view toward fortune.  Seventeen years before a volcanic eruption buried Pompeii, the city suffered a tremendously destructive earthquake. In the months following the earthquake, as inhabitants began to leave the region, Seneca commented on the futility of their actions, arguing that there is no place on earth where we are free from Fortune’s fickle finger:  

 

Perhaps tonight or before tonight, today will split open the spot where you stand securely.  How do you know whether condition will henceforth be better in those places against which Fortune has already exhausted her strength or in those places which are supported on their own ruins? We are mistaken if we believe any part of the world is exempt and safe. . . . 

                                                            Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay 

 

Instead of moving to a different region to avoid bad fortune, Seneca had a different prescription which involves a metaphorical shifting of ground.  He called it the premeditatio malorum -- or premeditation. This daily morning ritual is an exercise of the imagination where an individual contemplates what might possibly go wrong during the day ahead.  Rather than being a pessimistic, negative practice, the premeditatio is meant to build optimistic self confidence.  In other words, we can lessen fortune’s blows by mentally anticipating and preparing for them.

 

As Seneca said:  

 

What is quite unlooked for is more crushing in its effect, and unexpectedness adds to the weight of a disaster. This is a reason for ensuring that nothing ever takes us by surprise. We should project our thoughts ahead of us at every turn and have in mind every possible eventuality instead of only the usual course of events….

 

To illustrate the inescapability of fortune, Seneca used the metaphor of a dog tied to a cart.  Like the cart, fortune moves capriciously.  We have degrees of freedom of movement based on the length of the leash, but once the cart begins to move, we must either move with it or be dragged by our necks.

 

In Seneca’s words:

 

An animal, struggling against the noose, tightens it... there is no yoke so tight that it will not hurt the animal less if it pulls with it than if it fights against it. The best alleviation for overwhelming evils is to endure and bow to necessity. (1)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the “premeditatio malorum,” and how does it relate to his attitude toward fortune and his attitude toward unfortunate events like an earthquake?

 

Challenge - Seneca’s Sage Sayings:  Research some wise quotations by Seneca, the Younger. For example, he said, “There are more things . . . that frighten us than injure us, and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.”  Select one quotation that you think provides especially smart insights.  Quote it and follow the quotation with some commentary explaining why you like it.

 

Also on This Day:

February 5, 1922:  The first edition of Reader’s Digest was published. The magazine was the brainchild of DeWitt Wallace, who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1889.  Recovering from wounds suffered while serving in World War I, DeWitt began working on his idea of publishing a monthly periodical featuring condensed version of articles from other magazines.

Sources:

1-De Botton, Alain.  The Consolations of Philosophy. New York:  Vintage Books, 2000.

Reading Check:

-The daily ‘premeditation’ recommended by Seneca involves what?

-To illustrate the inescapability of fortune, what metaphor did Seneca use?

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 4

Besides the actual medicine in a pain reliever, what other factors impact a pill’s effectiveness?

Subject:  Placebo Effect - Anesthesiology in World War II

Event:  Henry Beecher’s birthday, 1904

 

While serving as an anesthesiologist in Europe during World War II, Henry Beecher -- born on this day in 1904 -- made an observation that changed the way we see both medicine and human cognition.  Beecher observed that soldiers who were scheduled to return home felt less pain than soldiers who were not returning home.  Also, when he ran out of the painkiller morphine, Beecher replaced it with a saline solution but told the wounded soldiers that it was morphine.  About half of the soldiers who received the saline reported that their pain was relieved.  

                                                                Image by Ewa Urban from Pixabay 

 

Beecher’s observation led to what today we call the placebo effect, which tells us that we cannot discount the important role that the mind plays in any medical issue experienced by the body.  In other words, any expectation of medical treatment plays a part in the healing process.

 

Even today we don’t know exactly how placebos work, but neuroscientists believe that the mere expectation of treatment releases natural chemicals that mimic the actual effects of drugs on the body.  Drug companies use placebos when testing the effectiveness of their drugs.  They give one control group the drug and another a sugar pill placebo.  Doing this, they can compare results to see what positive effects result from the drug beyond just the placebo effect (1).

 

The British marketing guru Rory Sutherland discusses the power of the placebo effect in economics in his book Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business and Life.  When marketing a pain reliever, for example, Sutherland says it’s all about “the packaging and the promise.”  A brand name pain reliever is more effective; similarly, the more narrowly defined the condition, the more effective.  For example, a drug that is labeled as targeting  “back pain” will be more effective than a more general pain reliever.  Studies show that even the color, shape, or taste of medicine can impact its effectiveness; for example, the most effective color for a painkiller is red (2).

 

The basic moral of the placebo effect story is the power of the human mind and the power of great expectations to promote a positive mindset.

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the placebo effect, and what does it tell us about the power of the human mind?

Challenge - Pushing Your Placebo Buttons:  A 2004 story in The New York Times reported on signs mounted at New York City intersections that read, “To Cross Street, Push Button, Wait for Walk Signal.”  The question is, does the button actually work to speed up the changing of the “Don’t Walk” sign to “Walk”?  The NY Times article reports that 2,500 of the city’s 3,250 walk buttons “function essentially as mechanical placebos . . . .” Do some research on placebo buttons in your town.  Are the buttons at your hometown’s intersections placebos?  You might also check out the “Close Door” buttons in elevators.  Do they really work, or are they there just to give riders a false sense of empowerment? (3).

 

 

Sources:

1-Perry, Susan.  “The Power of the Placebo.” BrainFacts.org  31 May 2012.

2-Sutherland, Rory.  Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business and Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2019.

3-Luo, Michael.  “For Exercise in New York Futility, Push Button.”  The New York Times 27 Feb. 2004.

Reading Check:

-Beecher’s idea for using placebos began when he noticed what?

-What factor is the most important when it comes to the power of the placebo effect?

 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 3

What can a chameleon teach us about thinking?

Subject:  Chameleon Effect - Negotiation Study

Event:  Culture Club’s song “Karma Chameleon” hits number 1, 1984

On February 3, 1984, the song “Karma Chameleon” by the British band Culture Club hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  Long before the song became popular, the chameleon had been a metaphor for a person who changes his or her appearance or behavior according to the situation, and as psychological research has shown, this chameleon effect can be a powerful persuader.

                                                                Image by Robert Balog from Pixabay 

In a 1999 study conducted by Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh, they sat with college students to discuss a set of photographs.  For half of the 72 students, the experimenters mimicked the posture and behavior of the students, mirroring their movements and mannerisms.  If, for example, a student folded her arms, the experimenter would fold his arms.  The results of the study showed that the students who had been mirrored rated their experimenter as more likable.  In addition, as contrasted with the students who were not mirrored, the mirrored students reported that their interaction with the experiment was smoother.

In another study, experimenters instructed MBA students to mirror the behavior of their partners in one-on-one negotiation sessions.  Those students who were instructed to mirror the other person reached a deal 67% of the time, while those who did not mirror, reached a deal only 12% of the time.

The explanation behind the success of the chameleon effect is explained by our natural bias toward people who are similar to us.  In short, we are more likely to like a person who is like us.  Whether or not we are consciously aware of it, this liking bias makes it easier to trust and to build rapport with someone who looks, acts, or shares the same beliefs or preferences as us.  Think, for example, how many of your friendships have been formed based on the similarities you share with another person.  It doesn’t make much sense that we should be attracted more to a person who has the same birthday as us; nevertheless, can you honestly say that you wouldn’t be attracted to this person? (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the chameleon effect, and what insight does it provide about human nature?

Challenge - Philosophy Meets Zoology:  Philosophers have long looked to the animal kingdom for literal or figurative comparisons that help us understand the human condition.  For example, in Book II of The Republic, Plato asks us to consider the dog:

Who then can be a guardian? The image of the dog suggests an answer. For dogs are gentle to friends and fierce to strangers. Your dog is a philosopher who judges by the rule of knowing or not knowing; and philosophy, whether in man or beast, is the parent of gentleness. The human watch dogs must be philosophers or lovers of learning which will make them gentle. 

What specific animal do you think has lessons for humans?  What part of the animal’s nature or behavior can we observe and learn from?

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

February 3, 1976:  On this day Bill Gates published an “Open Letter to Hobbyists” in the Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter.  At the time, Gates’ software company, Microsoft, was just one year old.  The issue that sparked Gates’ letter was one of the earliest cases of software piracy.  Gates complained in the letter that uses of his Altair BASIC software, which in an era before floppy disks was distributed on paper, were making unauthorized copies.  He implored the computer hobbyists using the Altair 8800, the first commercially successful personal computer, to think about the consequences of their actions -- that professional developers could not continue to stay in business if people did not pay for the software.

Sources:

1-Goldstein, Noah J., Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini.  Yes:  50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. New York:  Free Press, 2008.

Reading Check:

-When MBA students used mirroring in a negotiation experiment, how often did they negotiate successfully?

-What animal is used as the metaphor for the psychological concept called “mirroring”?

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 2

In the ultimatum game, what is the “ultimatum,” and what does it tell us about thinking?

Subject:  Ultimatum Game

Event:  Birthday of Werner Guth, 1944

Try this thought experiment.  Imagine I offer you one-hundred dollars.  The money is yours to keep, except for one catch:  You must give some of the money to another person -- a stranger who is sitting across the room.  In order for you

to keep any of the money, you must put a portion of it in an envelope, which will then be given to the stranger.  If the stranger accepts the one-time offer, you get to keep what’s left of the $100 and the stranger gets her portion.  However, if the money is rejected by the stranger, neither of you gets anything.  So, here’s the question:  how much money would you put in the envelope?

                                                                Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

If you approach this thought experiment purely logically, you might consider offering as little as $1 to the stranger; after all, one dollar is better than zero dollars.  The problem, however, is that you’re interacting with a human being, not a computer.  We like to believe that we humans are purely reasoning creatures; however, the truth is that our thinking is heavily influenced by emotion, especially when it comes to social reasoning and issues involving justice and fairness.

German economist Werner Guth, who was born on this day in 1944, made this thought experiment an actual experiment in the 1980s.  He called it the ultimatum game, due to the take-it-or-leave-it nature of the game's key transaction.  With the help of two colleagues, Rolf Schmittger and Bernd Schwarze, Guth began gathering data to determine how actual people would interact with actual money.  The results revealed that offers of less than 30 percent of the total are rejected and that most participants offer up to half of the money to their partner.  The ultimatum game shows that when it comes to human interaction, perceptions of fairness play a big role in how we make decisions.  We have the ability to reason with logic, but emotion and empathy are big parts of the recipe that makes up human cognition (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the ultimatum game, and what does it have to teach us about human thinking and human interactions?

Challenge - Games People Play:  Do some research on one of the other games listed below.  What does the game have to teach us about human behavior and thinking?  Pirate Game, Public Goods Game, Dictator Game, Impunity Game, Gift Exchange Game, Prisoner’s Dilemma

ALSO ON THIS DAY:  

-Today is Groundhog Day.  Watch what many would argue is the most philosophical movie ever made - Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray.  Watch for how weatherman Phil Connors does an “If By Whiskey” about winter (See THINKER’S ALMANAC - October 2). As he is talking to the TV camera, just before the Groundhog Day ceremony is about to commence, he says the following lines.  Version 1 is early in the film when he feels stuck by his fate; Version 2 is late in the film when he had seen the light:

Version 1: “This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype.  Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it.  You’re hypocrites, all of you!”

Version 2: “When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.”

Sources:

1-McRaney, D. You Are Not So Smart. New York: Gotham Books/Penguin Group, 2011.

Reading Check:

-What is the psychological insight that comes from playing the ultimatum game?

-When the ultimatum game is played, what offers are consistently rejected?

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 1

How do colorless green ideas sleep?

Subject:  Syntax and Semantics - Chomsky’s “Colorless Green Ideas”

Event:  Noam Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures published, 1957

Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints -- the rules that run us.  Language is using us to talk -- we think we’re using the language, but language is doing the thinking, we’re its slavish agents.  --Harry Mathews 

Today is the birthday of linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky, who was born in Philadelphia in 1928.  Chomsky spent more than 50 years as a professor at MIT and has authored over 100 books. Chomsky has been called “the father of modern linguistics” and is one of the founders of the field of cognitive science.  Despite all of his accomplishments, Chomsky is perhaps best known for a single sentence:

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

                                                            Image by Екатерина Гусева from Pixabay 

Published in his 1957 book Semantic Structures, Chomsky’s famous sentence illustrates the difference between two essential elements of language:  syntax and semantics.  Syntax relates to the grammar of a language or the order in which words are combined to construct sentences. Semantics, in contrast, relates to the meaning of individual words. Chomsky’s sentence illustrates the difference between syntax and semantics, showing that a grammatically or syntactically correct sentence can be constructed that is semantically nonsensical.

Of course we can construct zany sentences all day for entertainment purposes, but to truly communicate our thoughts to an audience, we must craft sentences that synthesize both syntax and semantics to make sense.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the difference between syntax and semantics, and how does Chomsky’s famous sentence illustrate the difference?

Challenge - Strange Semantic-less Syntax Sings Soporifically:  What are some adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs that all begin with the same letter of the alphabet? Try your hand at constructing a syntactically correct, yet semantically nonsensical sentence.  For an added layer of interest, use alliteration by selecting words that begin with the same letter.

Begin by brainstorming as many adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs as you can.  Then, select randomly from your list, filling in words in the following order:

Adjective + adjective + noun + verb + adverb

For example:

Angry, ambivalent aardvarks argue awkwardly.

or

Zany, zymolytic zookeepers zoom zealously.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-February 1, 1709:  On this day Alexander Selkirk, the real-life castaway who inspired Daniel Defoe’s book Robinson Crusoe (1917), was rescued.    Selkirk spend four years alone on a desert island off the coast of South America, surviving on the goats that he hunted on the island.  Defoe’s fictional account of Selkirk’s experiences when on to become one of the most widely read books in history and is recognized today as the first work of realistic fiction.

-February 1, 1852:  On this day, Henry David Thoreau recorded a rant in his journal, enumerating the idiocy of the California Gold Rush:

The recent rush to California and the attitude of the world, even of its philosophers and prophets, in relation to it appears to me to reflect the greatest disgrace on mankind.  That so many are ready to get their living by the lottery of gold-digging without contributing any value to society, and that the great majority who stay at home justify them in this both by precept and example! . . . . The hot that roots his own living, and so makes manure, would be ashamed of such company.

-February 1, 1974:  Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws was published.  The idea for the book, Benchley’s first novel, began ten years earlier when he read a news story about a 4,550-pound Great White shark caught off the beaches of Long Island, New York.  The brief news story sparked Benchley’s imagination:  “And I thought right then, ‘What if one of these things came round and wouldn’t go away?”

-National Freedom Day - Every February 1st:  Inspired by President Lincoln’s signing of the 13th Amendment on February 1, 1865, Major Richard Robert Wright, a former slave, lobbied in the 1940s to have this day designated “National Freedom Day.”  After Wright’s death in 1947, Congress passed a bill in 1948 to make February 1 National Freedom Day.  Later, in 1976, the name was changed to Black History Day.

Sources:  

1-”Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” Psychology Wiki.

Reading Check:

-What is the difference between syntax and semantics?

-In the sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” what part of speech is the word “sleep”?