THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 10

What can a tug-of-war competition teach us about individual versus group effort?

Subject: Social Loafing - Tug Of War

Event:  Birthday of Maximilien Ringelmann, 1861

 

In school, do you prefer working on individual projects or do you like group projects?

If you happen to prefer group projects, do you believe that a group of people works as hard, if not harder, on a project as an individual working on the same project?

A French agricultural engineer named Maximilien Ringelmann, who was born on this day in 1861, did some interesting research in 1913 that gives us insight into these questions.

                                                            Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Ringelmann had subjects pull a rope attached to a device that measured the force exerted.  When individuals were asked to pull the rope individually, the mean force exerted was 85.3 kg.  When individuals were placed in groups of 7, the mean force exerted was 65.0 kg, and when individuals were placed in groups of 14, the mean force was 61.4 kg.  Based on these results, Ringelmann concluded that as group size increased, the average individual force exerted declined.  Today we know this phenomenon as the Ringelmann effect or social loafing.  In sum, when it comes to working in a group, individuals put in less effort than if they were working alone.  Furthermore, the decreased amount of effort is unconscious.  If you ask people about their individual effort within a group, they don’t realize or admit that they are putting less effort than they would if they were working alone. 

Whether you are a coach of a team or a supervisor of a group of people, knowing the implications of social loafing is important.  The key to mitigating its effects is to make individuals in the group more aware of and accountable for their individual contributions to the group.  Social loafing reminds us that while it is true that “many hands make light work,” it is seldom true that many hands make hard work.

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is social loafing, and how did Max Ringelmann’s experiments show its impact on group effort?

Challenge:  Better Group Projects:  Write a public service announcement for leaders to inform them about social loafing and to provide them with tips on how to make individuals within a group more motivated and more individually accountable.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 10, 1830:  Today is the birthday of American poet Emily Dickinson.  In the following poem, we can see Dickinson’s imagination at work:

The brain is wider than the sky,

For, put them side by side,

The one the other will include

With ease, and you beside.

 

The brain is deeper than the sea,

For, hold them, blue to blue,

The one the other will absorb,

As sponges, buckets do.

 

The brain is just the weight of God,

For, lift them, pound for pound,

And they will differ, if they do,

As syllable from sound.

Sources:  

1-Psychology, Research, and Reference. “The Ringelmann Effect.” 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 9

How can a simple coin toss reveal our tendency to see the glass of life as half empty instead of half full?

Subject: Loss Aversion - Coin Toss

Event:  Carl Richard pens New York Times article on loss aversion.

If owning stocks is a long-term project for you, following their changes constantly is a very, very bad idea. It's the worst possible thing you can do, because people are so sensitive to short-term losses. If you count your money every day, you'll be miserable. -Daniel Kahneman

On this day in 2013, an article appeared in The New York Times entitled “Overcoming an Aversion to Loss.”  The writer of the article, Carl Richards, begins by quoting Lance Armstrong:  “I like to win, but more than anything, I can’t stand the idea of losing.  Because to me, losing means death.”

Richards argues that Armstrong’s dislike for losing is universal in humans.  It’s called loss aversion, and it basically means that “we feel the pain of loss more acutely than we feel the pleasure of gain.”

To further illustrate the point, Richards turns to the psychological research of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who came up with a simple experiment to document the reality of loss aversion in ordinary people.  The researchers offered their subjects a bet on a simple coin toss.  If the coin falls on tails, you lose $10.  He then asked the subjects how much they would have to gain by winning in order to take the bet.  On average, subjects want at least $20 for a win before they will take the bet.  In short, this experiment reveals that the pain we experience from a loss is twice the amount of pleasure we feel from a win.

                                                                                Image by zsunberg from Pixabay 

Loss aversion 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; humans are hardwired to see the glass as half empty rather than half full.

The positive side of loss aversion and negativity bias is that they give us keen insights into human nature, insights we might be able to use for more effective persuasion.  For example, if it is true that losses are perceived as greater than gains, we should not just focus on the advantages of a proposition, we should instead focus on how the proposition might help us to avoid disadvantages.  If we are selling a toothbrush, we might go beyond just showing the bright smile it will give the customer; in addition, we should show how it will help alleviate the terrible tooth decay that the customer might experience without it.  Because we are cognizant of negativity bias, we might see how the bad effect (tooth decay) is more powerful than the good effect (bright smile).

Because loss aversion tells us that the fear of losing money is more motivational than the prospect of gaining money, we might consider framing a sales pitch around this psychology.  For example, instead of focusing on the money a customer will save by buying our toothbrush, it might be smarter to focus on how much the customer will lose if they don’t buy it.

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is loss aversion, and what insight about human nature does it give us?

Challenge:  The Half Empty Appeal:  Do some research on advertising for specific products.  Look specifically for examples of how marketers appeal to losses or disadvantages in order to capitalize on loss aversion and negativity bias.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 9, 1608:  Today is the birthday of the English poet John Milton, author of the epic poem Paradise Lost (1667).  Milton once said, “The mind is it own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”

December 9, 1854:  On this day in 1854, Britain’s Poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson published his poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”  The poem recounts a horrific episode at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.  On October 25, 1854,* the British Light Brigade rode into battle against Russian forces.  Following an ambiguous order to attack, the soldiers of the British cavalry were mowed down by Russian field artillery as they charged across a treeless valley.  Of the 673 British horsemen who made the charge that day only 198 survived (2).  Tennyson is said to have written his famous narrative poem in just a few minutes after reading an account of the battle in the newspaper.  The six-stanza poem immediately became popular, and even today its famous lines capture the plight of common soldiers, nobly and courageously following the orders of their superior:

 

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred. 

 

Sources:

1-Richards, Carl.  “Overcoming an Aversion to Loss.” The New York Times 9 Dec. 2013.

2-March, W.B. and Bruce Carrick.  366: A Leap Year of Great Stories. Cambridge, UK:  Icon Books, 2007: 342.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 8

Why is a bodhi tree, a type of fig tree, known as the “tree of enlightenment”?

Subject:  Enlightenment - Buddha and the Bodhi Tree

Event: Bodhi Day

 

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. -Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama (560-380 BCE) was a prince who lived in northern India.  In line to be the next king, Siddhartha lived a life of wealth and luxury. In his twenties, however, he became discontented and left home to seek enlightenment.  He spent six years living a life of austerity and meditation; however, he still did not find the enlightenment he was looking for.  

 

Finally, one day he resolved to sit under a bodhi tree and not get up or leave until he had achieved enlightenment. At dawn, on what traditionally is celebrated on December 8, Siddhartha experienced the Great Awakening and became Buddha (which means “the enlightened one”).

                                                                Image by Amazon_Green from Pixabay 

For the next forty-five years, Buddha taught his disciples what he had discovered while meditating under the bodhi tree, his Four Noble Truths:  first, that suffering is an innate and unavoidable part of life; second, that desire and craving are the cause of suffering; third, that letting go of desire and craving is the key to overcoming suffering; fourth, that following the Middle Way -- a path that is neither overly indulgent nor overly ascetic -- is the prescription necessary for overcoming suffering.  The Middle Way is also known as the Eightfold Path:  right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (1).

 

In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt points out Buddha’s brilliant metaphor for understanding our divided self, the tension within our mind between our chaotic desires, our emotions, and our conscious, rational self.  To illustrate this, Buddha asks us to imagine our mind as a wild elephant:

In days gone by this mind used to stray wherever selfish desire or lust or pleasure would lead it.  Today this mind does not stray and is under the harmony of control, even as a wild elephant is controlled by a trainer. (2)

 

Later in his book, Haidt explains this metaphor into his well known elephant and the rider metaphor (See THINKER’S ALMANAC - September 22 ).

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the significance of the bodhi tree in Buddhism, and what are the Four Noble Truths?

Challenge - Buddha’s Words of Wisdom:  Do some research on quotations by Buddha.  When you find one you like, write it out.  Then, explain why you think it provides wisdom and insight.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 8, 65 BC: Today is the birthday in 65 BC of Roman lyrical poet and satirist Horace.  On this day we express our gratitude to Horace for a single word -- sesquipedalian, which means “a long word” or “a person known for using long words.”  Horace penned his verse in Latin.  In his Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry) he wrote the following:  Proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, which translates, “He throws aside his paint pots and his words that are a foot and a half long.”  Combining the Latin roots sesqu- (one and a half) and ped (a foot), this adjective provides the perfect slightly exaggerated image for words that are wide.  Like many English words derived from Latin, especially many of the longer ones, sesquipedalian was borrowed in the seventeenth century (1).

Sources:

1-Bassham, Gregory. The Philosophy Book. New York:  Sterling, 2016: 24.

2-Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis. Basic Books, 2006: 2. 

3-http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ses1.htm

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 7

Why is Pearl Harbor Day a good reminder of how to correctly evaluate decisions and how to correctly set goals? 

Subject: Outcome Bias - The Attack on Pearl Harbor

Event:  Pearl Harbor Day, 1941

 

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination. -Carl Rogers

This day in 1941 is known as “a date which will live in infamy.”  It is the day that sparked the United States’ involvement in World War II when the Japanese unexpectedly attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

                                                                    Image by WikiImages from Pixabay 

On what was a quiet Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on Pearl Harbor just before 8:00 AM. and destroyed nineteen vessels and over 300 planes.  More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the surprise attack.

After what was the worst disaster in American military history, officials immediately began searching for answers as to how it happened.  Although there had been signs of a possible attack by Japan before December 7, the problem was that there was too much intelligence, and much of it was conflicting.  The conventional wisdom before the attack was that Japan was incapable of mounting such an operation so far from its home shores; instead, an attack on the Philippines seemed a much more likely target.  Nevertheless, many looked at the intelligence and saw signs that should have caused U.S. military leaders to anticipate the attack and to evacuate the base (1).

The attack on Pearl Harbor is a classic case study in outcome bias:  the tendency to evaluate a decision based on its results rather than on its process.  It was easy to cherry pick from the plethora of intelligence after the fact and find evidence that an attack was imminent; however, because so much of the data was contradictory, a decision in real time was very difficult to make (2).

The lesson of outcome bias is to avoid judging a decision purely by its result. Randomness and chance play a big role in how things happen, and if we leap to judging things based on outcome rather than process or other external factors, we might miss important insights.   Imagine, for example, you take an important test such as the SAT and do poorly.  If you judge yourself solely on the result, it leaves little room for improvement.  If you focus instead on what you can learn from the process, you’ll be better prepared to improve your performance next time.

When setting goals, it is especially important to distinguish between process and outcome.  For example, you might set an outcome goal of achieving a certain score on the SAT; however, in pursuit of this goal, it is important to consider process goals:  specific acts or tasks that you need to complete in service of reaching your goal.  For example, setting an outcome goal of running a marathon in under four hours means little if you don’t have specific process goals.  How many miles, for example, are you going to run per week in training? What specific things should you consider regarding your diet and sleep schedule?

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What can the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 teach us about evaluating decisions and setting goals?

Challenge - Process Versus Product:  Do some research on quotations about the theme of process versus product (outcome).  Pick a quotation you like, write it down, and explain why you think it is insightful.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 7, 1928:  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.

 

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.  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.

Sources:

1-Miller, Nathan. “Why Was the Surprise Attack At Pearl Harbor Such a Surprise?” The Baltimore Sun 1 December 1991.

2-Dobelli, Rolf. The Art of Thinking Clearly. New York: Harpercollins, 2013: 58-60.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 6

How did a Missouri attorney win his case without arguing any of the facts in his case?

Subject:  Rhetoric/Pathos - Vest’s “Eulogy for a Dog”

Event:  Birthday of George Graham Vest, 1830

 

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.-Dale Carnegie

George Graham Vest, who was born on this day in 1830, served four terms as a U.S. Senator representing Missouri.  Although Vest was known as one of the Senate’s most powerful orators, his best known speech was presented as a part of a court case when he was practicing law in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1869.

Vest was representing a man whose dog, a hunting dog named Old Drum, had been killed by a sheep farmer.  Vest’s client was suing for $150 damages.  The words that became immortal were the words of Vest’s closing argument.  Imagine you were sitting in the jury box, as you read Vest’s summation:

                                                                Image by Péter Göblyös from Pixabay 

Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death. (1)

Vest won the case, but more important than that fact is how he won the case.  Notice how his closing argument makes no specific references to the specific facts of the case; he doesn’t even mention Old Drum by name.  Instead, his speech is pure pathos -- pure appeal to emotion.  By focusing on one theme, canine fidelity, he is able to stir the emotions of the jury.  Vest’s genius is the use of words to transform one dog, Old Drum, into every unconditionally faithful dog that anyone has ever had the pleasure to know.  

As the philosopher David Hume said, “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.” Vest’s speech is a classic example of how a writer might achieve success by jettisoning reason altogether and going all in with emotion.  

Vest’s strategy of pure pathos is risky.  All it takes is one juror to cry foul.  After all, a key aspect of any court case should be a foundation of facts and evidence that support a claim. 

 

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What was Vest’s strategy for persuading the jury in his closing argument?

Challenge - Canine Quotations:  What is the best thing that anyone has ever said about dogs?  Do some research on dog quotations.  Then, pick the one you like the best, write it out, and explain why you like it.

Sources:

1. Safire, William. Lend Me Your Ears:  Great Speeches in History. “Senator George Graham Vest Offers a Tribute to the Dog.” 174-176.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 5

Why do some people mistakenly believe that Benjamin Franklin was the president of the United States?

 

Subject: False Memory - The Mandela Effect

Event:  Death of Nelson Mandela, 2013

 

In my country we go to prison first and then become President. -Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, died on this day in 2013.  Before he died, however, a number of people were under the incorrect presumption that he had died while being held as a political prisoner in South Africa in the 1980s.  

                                                            Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay 

One person who realized her error was Fiona Broome.  In 2009, she was at a conference and realized that she was not alone in her belief that Mandela had died in prison.  Many of the people she talked to at the conference shared her memory of Mandela’s death.  

Shocked by the phenomenon of so many people being so wrong about a shared memory, Broome decided to publish a website to document other instances of what she called the Mandela effect.

Just as individuals can form false memories, groups of people can form collective false memories.  Psychologists believe this happens because of a concept known as “confabulation”: the process by which we produce false memories unconsciously without any intention of deceiving anyone. As we attempt to recall a memory, we cannot recall everything, so we confabulate by filling in the gaps of our memory with details that feel correct but that are not entirely accurate.  When we confabulate, we’re not lying; instead, we generate false memories without any intent to deceive anyone, genuinely believing we have recalled the memory correctly.

For example, many people remember the famous Darth Vader line from The Empire Strikes Back as “Luke, I am your father.”  However, Vader actually says “No, I am your father.”  It’s a small difference; however, thanks to the Mandela effect, the wrong version of the movie line has become the standard line that people quote.

Try this trivia question:  Was Alexander Hamilton ever President of the United States?  

The answer is no; however, many will falsely claim that he was.  This makes sense when you think about how our memories are organized.  We encode our memories using categories and associations called schemas.  Since Hamilton fits well in the Founding Fathers/Presidents category of our memories, we might mistakenly believe that he actually was president.  This is the same false cognitive leap that some people make with Benjamin Franklin:  because he played a large role in the founding of the United States, because he is a distinctive voice in American history, and because we see his face on U.S. currency, we might believe he was president.  Franklin, however, never served as president.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the Mandela Effect, and why is it named after the former South African president?

Challenge - What’s in a Name?: Another well-known psychological effect, named for a famous person, is the “Benjamin Franklin Effect.”  Do some research on the specifics of this effect.  Explain what it is and what it has to do with Benjamin Franklin.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 5, 1901:  Today is the birthday of Walt Disney, who was born in Chicago in 1901.  In 1928 he introduced the world to Mickey Mouse in the animated feature Steamboat Willie.  Disney revolutionized animation, mixing sound and color to produce full-length feature films based on classic children’s stories like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  For Disney, fantasy on the big screen was not enough.  He also pioneered the fantasy-themed family vacation when he opened Disneyland in California in 1955 (2). Disney was a man who paid attention to details, and he knew that the appearance of his characters as well as their names mattered.  In the 1930s, for example, when Disney was adapting the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White, he made a list of 47 potential names for the dwarfs, which included Awful, Baldy, Dirty, and Hoppy (3).  In case you can’t remember the names that made the final cut, they are Bashful, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, and Doc. As a film producer, Disney won 22 Academy Awards, far more than anyone else.  Disney died in 1966, but his name lives on.  The Walt Disney Company, the small animation company he founded on October 16, 1923, has grown into the world’s second largest media conglomerate.

Sources:

1-Cuncic, Arlin. “What Is the Mandela Effect?” Verywellmind.com 17 September 2020.

2-Gottlieb, Agnes Hooper, Henry Gottlieb, Barbara Bowers, and Brent Bowers. 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium. New York: Kodansha International, 1998.

3-http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/03/47-dwarfs.html