THINKER'S ALMANAC - January 2

How can tapping out the tune to “Happy Birthday” with your pencil help you communicate your ideas more clearly to an audience?

Subject:  The Curse of Knowledge - Tappers and Listeners

Event: The book Made to Stick published, 2007

The better you know something, the less you remember about how hard it was to learn. The curse of knowledge is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad prose. -Steven Pinker

Whenever you write, there’s a temptation to do more telling than showing.  This is because of a major writing and thinking obstacle called the curse of knowledge -- the principle that says that once we know something, it is hard to remember what it was like when we didn’t know it.  On this day in 2007, authors Chip and Dan Heath published the book Made To Stick:  Why Some Ideas Die and Others Survive, which first explained the concept of the curse of knowledge for a wide audience.

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The reality of the curse of knowledge was first demonstrated in a 1990 study by Elizabeth Newton, a Stanford University graduate student in psychology.  Newton created a game where the players were given one of two roles:  “tappers” or “listeners.”  The tappers were given a well-known song, such as “Happy Birthday,” and were instructed to tap out the rhythm of the song on a table.  The listeners were then asked to guess the song.

 

When asked to predict how successful the listeners would be in identifying their songs, the tappers predicted 50%.  This prediction wasn’t close.  Of the 120 songs tapped out, the listeners guessed only three, a 2.5% success rate.  The curse of knowledge explains the large disparity between the tappers’ predictions and their actual success rate.  As they tapped out their tunes, they could not avoid hearing the song in their heads; the listeners, however, only heard the taps.  The tappers were “cursed” by their knowledge of the songs’ melodies and were unable to imagine what it was like for the listener to hear only the tapping (1).

To avoid the curse of knowledge, writers must do more than just TELL their point; instead, they must also SHOW it with specific, concrete, and varied evidence.  Furthermore, writers must try to see their writing from the perspective of the “listeners,” -- their audience -- continually asking themselves what they are trying to say, whether or not they are saying it clearly, and whether or not it can be understood by someone who has never encountered the topic before.

As George Orwell wrote in his classic essay “Politics and the English Language” (1946), effective writers are always thinking about their audience and are always interrogating themselves to make sure that they are being clear:

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? (2)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did the results of the tappers and listeners study illustrate the problem that the curse of knowledge presents us when we try to communicate?

Challenge - PSA - How to Lift the Curse:  Write a public service announcement for speakers and writers on why understanding the curse of knowledge is essential for effective, clear communication with an audience.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:  

January 2, 1920:  The prolific writer, biochemist, and legend of science fiction, Isaac Asimov was born this day.  As the author of over 500 books, Asimov knew how to overcome the curse of knowledge.  He once said, “In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.”

Sources:  

1-Heath, Chip and Dan Heath.  Made To Stick:  Why Some Ideas Die and Others Survive.  New York:  Random House, 2007.

2-Orwell, George.  “Politics and the English Language” (1946).

THINKER'S ALMANAC - January 1

How is it possible to make New Year’s resolutions more than once a year?

Subject:  Planning/Resolutions - Fresh Start Effect

Event:  New Year’s Day

Every day is a new opportunity to begin again. Every day is your birthday. -Dalai Lama

Each year on this day, people wake up resolved to start the new year afresh, throwing past bad habits into the dustbin and trying on new good habits like a new suit of clothes.  Unfortunately, for most people, New Year’s resolutions fail.  There is, however, good news from the world of science, informing all of us how we can increase the likelihood of sticking with our resolutions.

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Katherine Milkman, Professor of Operations, Information, and Decisions at the Wharton School, published a much-cited study in 2014 about what she calls the fresh start effect. Milkman’s research shows that it’s not just the beginning of a new year that inspires us to establish new, positive habits; instead, any specific date -- such as a birthday, an anniversary, the start of a new school year, or even the beginning of a new week or month -- can provide us with the fresh start we need to take on the challenge of changing our behavior.  Milkman documented the fresh start effect by collecting data on the frequency with which people search for the term “diet” on Google as well as documenting how often and when people visited gyms.  As Milkman’s data shows, a new year is not the only temporal landmark that offers a fresh start; instead, other special occasions or end dates motivate people to take action toward achieving their goals.

Of course, more fresh starts don’t necessarily mean more success, but Milkman also has helpful suggestions on specific things that people can do to increase the likelihood that their new behavior will stick.

First, it is important to record a concrete plan.  In one study, for example, people who physically wrote down their plans to get a flu shot on a specific date and time were 13% more likely to actually follow through and get the shot than those who didn’t write anything down.  Furthermore, people are more likely to follow through with changes if there is money on the line.  For example, you might put money aside and stipulate that if you don’t quit smoking for at least two months, you will forfeit the money.  This is also the principle behind the Ulysses Contract (See THINKER’S ALMANAC - April 3), where a person sets up deliberate, painful consequences for themselves as motivation to reach their goal.  If you were trying to lose weight, for example, you might stipulate that if you don’t lose at least ten pounds at the end of six months, you must contribute $100 to a cause or organization that you loathe.

Milkman also advises to “bundle your temptations” by combining one of your guilty pleasures with something that is necessary but not as much fun.  For example, you might limit yourself to only watching Netflix while riding your stationary bike.  Finally, Milkman advises you to not go it alone when it comes to pursuing your goals; instead, seek out the social support of a mentor.  One study, for example, showed that “patients with poorly controlled diabetes were paired with patients who previously had poorly controlled diabetes but had since achieved mastery over their disease. The improvements in glycemic control achieved by those mentored in this study were larger than those produced by many leading drugs” (1).

January 1 comes just once a year, but the fresh start effect should remind us that there are many more temporal landmarks that provide us the opportunity to start anew.  And by following at least some of Milkman's best practices, we can nudge ourselves towards a higher probability of following through with our goals.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the fresh start effect, and what is the best way to ensure that you keep your resolutions?

Challenge - New Year, New Start:  Write out a plan employing some of Katherine Milkman’s tips.  What is a resolution or goal that you would like to achieve this week, this month, or this year?  How might you use deliberate planning and sound psychological principles to help you achieve it?

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

-January 1, 1962:  On this day, The Beatles traveled from their homes in Liverpool to London for a New Year’s Day audition with Decca Records, one of the two major record labels in Britain.  They played 15 songs for Dick Rowe, Decca’s talent scout, who later wrote a letter to The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein saying, “We don’t like your boys’ sound.  Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars, particularly, are finished.” 

-January 1, 1972:  Paul Janis’ study on groupthink (Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes) was published on this day.  Janis explored how groups of intelligent people sometimes make bad decisions, such as the Kennedy Administration's failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.  The failure resulted from Kennedy allowing his subordinates to tell him what he wanted to hear rather than encouraging them to question and criticize the invasion plan.  Fortunately, Kennedy learned from this failure and applied lessons learned in October 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  By encouraging debate and the airing of multiple points of view, Kennedy was successful in getting the Soviets to remove their missiles from Cuba.

-January 1, 1986:  One of the most successful slogans in history premiered on this day.  During the television coverage of the 50th Annual Cotton Bowl Classic football game, a television advertisement ran featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn, singing the “Eyes Of Texas.” The ad ended with the line “Don't Mess With Texas!” (2).

Sources:

1-Milkman, Katherine L. and Kevin G. Volpp.  “How to Keep Your Resolutions.”  The New York Times 3 January 2014.

2-Heath, Chip and Dan Heath.  Made To Stick:  Why Some Ideas Die and Others Survive.  New York:  Random House, 2007:  196.

                                                                

THINKER'S ALMANAC: December 31

Subject: Time - Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar

Event:  December 31

 

The construction of such tables and calendars is inevitably humbling….dinosaurs emerge on Christmas Eve; flowers arise on December 28th; and men and women originate at 10:30 P.M. on New Year's Eve. All of recorded history occupies the last ten seconds of December 31. -Carl Sagan

In his 1977 book Dragons of Eden, astronomer Carl Sagan tackles the problem of trying to illustrate how old the world is relative to how young human beings are.  To do this he constructs what he calls a Cosmic Calendar.  In this calendar, Sagan asks the reader to imagine the 15 billion years condensed and recorded on a 365-day calendar.

On the Cosmic Calendar, the key event on January 1 is the Big Bang (the beginning of the universe).  Other key events don’t occur until September, such as the formation of the earth on September 14 and the origin of life on Earth on September 25.

If you represented the Cosmic Calendar as the length of a 100-yard football field, the whole of human history would represent a length no larger than the size of a hand.

The key day on the Cosmic Calendar for humankind, therefore, is today: December 31.  It should be humbling to realize how recently our species has appeared:  10:30 PM on December 31st.  Fire became an available tool minutes ago, at 11:46 PM and the first cities appeared at 11:59:35 PM.  Because the alphabet was invented just seconds ago, at 11:59:51 PM, all of recorded human history must be squeezed into a period of just ten seconds.  In Sagan’s words, “Every person we’ve ever heard of lived somewhere in there. All those kings and battles, migrations and inventions, wars and loves. Everything in the history books happens here, in the last 10 seconds of the cosmic calendar.”

The point of the Cosmic Calendar is to give us some perspective about how long our species has been on Earth relative to how long the universe has been in existence.  Although we as humans are newcomers, arriving just 90 minutes before the clock strikes twelve, beginning a new year, we still have enormous power to influence the next cosmic year.  As Sagan puts it, “We have a choice: we can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction.  What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do.”

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: At what time on the cosmic calendar do humans first appear?

Challenge - It’s the Time of the Season:  What is the best thing anyone has ever said about time?  Do some research to find quotations.  Write down the one you like the best, and explain why you think the quotation is insightful.

Sources:

1-Sagan, Carl. The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. New York: Ballantine Books, 1978. 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 30

Kipling cited “six honest serving men [who] taught [him] all he knew.” Who were these six men?

Subject:  Questions - Kipling’s Six Honest Serving Men

Event:  Birthday of British writer Rudyard Kipling, 1865

 

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy? -Albert Einstein

Today is the birthday of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), England’s master storyteller and poet.  Kipling was British, but he lived for many years in India where he was born.  Known especially for his short stories and his popular work of fiction The Jungle Book (1894), Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 when he was just 42 years old.  He was the first English language writer to win the prize, and he was also the youngest ever to win the prize.

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In a poem that accompanied one of his stories -- “The Elephant’s Child” -- Kipling includes a poem that personifies the six key interrogative pronouns, the words we use to begin questions:

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who. (1)

Making Kipling’s “six honest serving-men” a part of your learning team is one of the best metacognitive strategies there is.  Metacognition is the ability to critically analyze and monitor your own thinking, and one excellent way to do this is to ask questions as you read or listen to a lecture.

In a 1991 study, ninth grade students listened to a lecture.  A quarter of the students reviewed their notes on the lecture by themselves.  Another quarter of the students discussed the content of the lectures in small groups.  The final two quarters of students were taught self-questioning strategies, and then were asked to generate and answer questions individually during and after the lecture, or they were asked to generate and answer questions and then discuss their questions and answers with a small group.   All subjects in the study were tested immediately after the lecture and then tested again ten days later. 

Based on the study’s results, the students who employed self questioning as a part of their study scored significantly higher than students who merely reviewed notes or discussed the contents of the lecture (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What are the six interrogative pronouns?

Challenge:  Six Starts for Self-Questioning:  Do some research on strategies for self-questioning.  Then, write a short public service announcement aimed at students, explaining what self-questioning is, how it can be done, and why it is an effective method of learning.

Sources: 

1-Poetry Foundation.  “Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).

2-King, Alison. “Improving lecture comprehension: Effects of a metacognitive strategy.” Applied Cognitive Psychology July/August 1991, Volume 5, Issue 4.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 29

How did serendipity lead to the invention of vulcanized rubber?

Subject:  Creativity - Serendipity

Event: Birthday of inventor Charles Goodyear, 1800

 

I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps. -Charles Goodyear

Today is the birthday of Charles Goodyear, the man who invented vulcanized rubber.  Born in Connecticut, Goodyear left home at 17, moving to Philadelphia to work in the hardware business.  Struggling with ill health and his finances, Goodyear eventually returned to Connecticut, and after visiting a store that sold rubber goods, he decided to go to work on how to make rubber less sticky and more durable and resilient.  Although he had no formal education in chemistry, Goodyear worked diligently and tirelessly to find a way to make rubber more effective and useful.  

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In 1839, serendipity struck, giving Goodyear the breakthrough he was hoping for.  While working with a mixture of rubber and sulfur, he accidentally spilled some of the liquid onto a hot stove.  When the mixture hardened and Goodyear peeled it from the stove, he realized that it was still usable and that it was durable and elastic; it was also resistant to the extremes of both heat and cold.  The chance spill gave Goodyear the break he needed.  He soon perfected the process we know today as vulcanization of rubber, which he patented successfully on June 15, 1844.

Although the world benefited from applying vulcanization to a number of new products, specifically automobile tires, Goodyear, himself, did not go on to great success.  He continued to struggle with financial debts as well as with competitors who pirated his patent.  In 1860, Goodyear died, still in debt (1).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did serendipity assist Goodyear in inventing vulcanization?

Challenge: Father and Mothers of Invention:  What is the best thing anyone has ever said about invention.  Do some research on quotations.  When you find one you like, write it down and explain why you think it gives interesting insight into invention and creativity.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

December 29, 1891:  Today is the birthday of Joyce C. Hall (1891-1982), the founder of Hallmark Cards.  Joyce grew up in Nebraska and his first job was selling perfume door-to door.  At 16, he and his two brothers pooled their money to open the Norfolk Post Card Company.  Later in 1910, seeking better business opportunities, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he opened a card and gift shop.  When fire destroyed his entire inventory in 1915, he transformed tragedy into opportunity by taking out a loan and buying an engraving firm.  This set the stage for the creation of his first original greeting card designs.  Still based in Kansas City, Joyce built Hallmark into a national company, pioneering the card-plus-envelope greeting cards we see today, which replaced postcards.  He also pioneered the way cards were merchandised in stores by taking them out of drawers and placing them in eye-catching displays.  To further promote his company and make Hallmark the most recognizable name in the industry, Joyce began sponsoring television programs, beginning with a live Christmas Eve production of Amahl and the Night Visitors in 1951.  That first program set the stage for the long running primetime television series, the Hallmark Hall of Fame (2).

-December 29, 1566:  On this day, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe had part of his nose sliced off in a sword duel. While attending an engagement party, Tycho got into an argument with his third cousin Manderup Parsberg over who was the superior mathematician.  In addition to losing part of his nose, Tycho also suffered a long scar on his forehead.  For the rest of his life, Tycho wore a brass prosthetic nose which he kept in place with glue.  Although he did lose the dual, history certainly recognizes him as the superior mathematician.

Sources:

1- Ganesh, A.S. “Goodyear never did not have a good year.” The Hindu.com 17 June 2018.

2-1-Hallmark.com.  J.C. Hall. 

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 28

How did philosopher and author Mortimer J. Adler earn a Ph. D. without having previously earned a master’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, or a high-school diploma? 

Subject: Philosophical Ideas - Adler’s Great Ideas

Event:  Birthday of philosopher and author Mortimer J. Adler

 

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you. -Mortimer Adler

Today is the birthday of philosopher and author Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001).  As a teen, Adler dropped out of high school and worked as a copy boy for the New York Sun, but he later resumed his education at Columbia University.  After he finished the academic requirements for his bachelor’s degree, Adler was not allowed to graduate because he had refused to participate in physical education.  Nevertheless, Adler continued at Columbia as a teacher and a graduate student until he earned his Ph. D. in experimental psychology.  When he finally walked across the stage to collect his doctorate, he was the only Ph.D. in the country without a master’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, or a high-school diploma.

Soon Adler moved to the Midwest to teach philosophy at the University of Chicago.  At Chicago, he worked closely with his university’s president, Robert Maynard Hutchins, to develop a new liberal arts curriculum based on a core collection of outstanding works that constitute the foundation of the literature of Western culture.  Together Adler and Hutchins initiated the Great Books Foundation, a non-profit organization founded to promote continuing liberal education among the general public.

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In 1952, Adler compiled a 54-volume collection called Great Books of the Western World.  This collection included the works that Adler considered the canon of Western culture, the best writing from fiction, history, poetry, science, philosophy, drama, politics, religion, economics, and ethics.

In addition to the writings of the canon, the Great Books of the Western World included a two-volume index to the 102 “Great Ideas.” Compiled by Adler, this index is called the Syntopicon and contains all references to each of the Great Ideas in the Great Books.   

By Great Ideas, Adler means the “vocabulary of everyone’s thought.”  The ideas are not technical terms or specialized jargon of different branches of learning; instead, the Great Ideas are “the ideas basic and indispensable to understanding ourselves, our society, and the world in which we live” (1).  For Adler, philosophy is not just an academic pursuit; instead, philosophical thought is the business of everyone, and inquiring and conversing about big ideas is a core part of what it means to be human.

Below is an A to W listing of some of the Great Ideas. Each of these ideas is universal in the sense that each is a “common object of thought,” meaning these are ideas that any two human beings should be able to discuss.  Unlike the tangible, common objects we interact with, these are ideas — intangible, abstract objects that live in the mind.

Art, Beauty, Change, Democracy, Emotion, Fate, Government, Happiness, Induction, Justice, Knowledge, Language, Mind, Nature, Opinion, Progress, Quality, Rhetoric, Science, Truth, Universal and Particular, Vice and Virtue, Wisdom

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How did Mortimer Adler define a great idea?

Challenge - One Great Idea, Two Great Works: What is a single universal idea or theme that appears in the work of two separate authors?  Identify a single universal idea, such as truth, wisdom, or democracy, and explain how that idea appears in two different written works. The works may be fiction, drama, poetry, or nonfiction.  In the course of explaining your idea, relate your interpretation of what you think each author is saying about this idea, along with specific evidence from the text that supports your interpretation.

1-Adler, Mortimer.  How to Think About Great Ideas.  Open Court, 2000.