THINKER'S ALMANAC - April 27

When asked, 17% of homeowners agreed to put a “Drive Carefully” sign in their front yard.  What strategy did researchers employ to increase this compliance rate to 76%?

Subject:  Persuasion - Six Weapons of Influence

Event:  Birthday of Robert Cialdini, 1945

There is a group of people who know very well where the weapons of automatic influence lie and employ them regularly and expertly to get what they want. They go from social encounter to social encounter requesting others to comply with their wishes; their frequency of success is dazzling. -Robert Cialdini

Robert Cialdini, who was born on this day in 1945, has spent his life trying to figure out how to get people to say “Yes.”  

Imagine, for example, that you were tasked with persuading homeowners to display a large sign in their yards that reads, “DRIVE CAREFULLY.” Normally about 17% of homeowners will comply with such a request.  What could you do to boost participation to 76% of homeowners?  

                                                            Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

The secret, according to Cialdini, is to begin with a small request before the large one. Two weeks before being asked to put the large sign in their yards, homeowners were asked to put a small, inconspicuous sign in their window that said, “BE A SAFE DRIVER.”  Being such a small request, the vast majority of homeowners agreed.  Next, the same residents were approached again two weeks later with the request to display the larger sign.  Over 75% of these homeowners agree to place the larger sign on their front lawn.

The explanation behind the success of this two-pronged strategy, according to Cialdini, is a psychological principle known as consistency.  By agreeing to the first small request, homeowners became committed to the cause of safe driving.  When they were approached again two weeks later, they now desired to act consistently with their own perception of themselves as people who are concerned with safe driving.  Known by salespeople as the “foot-in-the-door technique,” this influence strategy capitalizes on the human tendency to make and stick to commitments and our desire to see ourselves as acting consistently (1).

Consistency is just one of the six “Weapons of Influence” that Cialdini has identified, the other five powerful tools of persuasion are as follows:

Social Proof:  Humans are “herd animals.”  We like to think we are individuals who think for ourselves, but the truth is we look to others - to the group - for assurance that we are behaving correctly.  It’s one of the oldest appeals there is:  “everybody’s doing it; therefore, it must be right.”  It makes perfect sense that it “feels” right to do the popular thing, to give in to the herd instinct.  After all, a big reason that our ancestors survived long enough to have offspring is, in part, because they stayed with and followed the group.  It’s our default. Marketers know about social proof and use it against us.

Reciprocity:  Humans are very sensitive to the give and take of interactions with each other.  Whether or not we’re conscious of it, we keep track of what others give us and what we give them, such as favors, gifts, or money.  We are especially sensitive to being in debt to others.  Restaurant servers understand reciprocity; the one or two pieces of candy that you get with your bill is not a purely altruistic gesture; instead, servers know that by giving you a small “gift,” their tip will be substantially larger.  This is because of reciprocity:  when given something, we feel obligated to reciprocate.

Liking:  We often think that we make our purchasing decisions based purely on reason rather than on whether or not we like the salesperson.  The truth, however, is that the more attractive a person is, or the more the person is like us, the more likely we are to buy from that person.  Salespeople know about this liking bias.  They try to establish a rapport with their customers by giving compliments, or they try to be more like the customer by mirroring his or her gestures or language. 

Scarcity:  We like to think we judge a product purely on that product's merit.  The truth, however, is that we are influenced - whether we realize it or not -- on how much of that product is available.  Marketers know about the scarcity error and exploit it with phrases like “only while supplies last,” or “today only.”  The Romans had a saying:  “Rara sunt cara,” which means “rare is valuable.”  In a study, subjects were tasked with rating ten posters on attractiveness; their reward for the task was that they would be given one of the posters.  After rating the posters from 1 to 10, the subjects were then told that the poster rated the third best was no longer available.  The subjects were then asked to re-do their rating of the ten posters.  This time, the poster that was no longer available was rated as the most attractive.

Authority:  We like to follow a leader, a person who we feel is credible and knowledgeable.  For example, you’re more likely to follow the exercise routines that a physical therapist gives you if your PT displays his or her diplomas on the office wall.   For better or worse, we defer to experts (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How were 75% of homeowners influenced to place a large "Be A Safe Driver" sign in their yard? What is the influence tool known as Consistency?

Challenge - Deadly Half Dozen:  Which of the Six Weapons of Influence would you say is the most persuasive?  Give a specific example of where you have seen it being used.

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.

2-Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: Science and Practice. New York: HarperCollinsCollegePublishers, 1993. Print.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - February 24

What method for simplifying and distilling a subject down to its essential elements did an economist discover while talking to a stranger in a bar?

Subject:  Distillation and Simplicity - The Two Things Game

Event:  “This Column Will Change Your Life:  The Two Things,” 2012

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe. -Albert Einstein

On this day in 2012, The Guardian newspaper published an article entitled, “This Column Will Change Your Life:  The Two Things.”

The column begins with an anecdote about the economist Glen Whitman.  In 2002, Whitman was sitting in a bar and struck up a conversation with a stranger.  Upon discovering that Whitman was an economist, the stranger asked, “So, what are the Two Things about economics?”  Whitman wasn’t sure what he meant by “Two Things” so he asked for clarification.  The stranger replied:  “You know, the Two Things. For every subject, there are only two things you need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.”

                                                    Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Getting the picture, Whitman thought for a moment and replied with his Two Things about economics:  “One: incentives matter. Two: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

That brief conversation in a bar in 2002 began Whitman’s quest for other Two Things from other fields, such as philosophy, marketing, finance, and computer science.  The idea behind the Two Things game is to distill and to simplify.  To do this experts must re-examine what they know and go back to basics.  This helps them see their field with new eyes.   Experts within a single field seldom agree on their Two Things; nevertheless, what they come up with is always interesting and illuminating, both to insiders and to outsiders.

At his website, Whitman has collected numerous examples by posing the Two Things question.  Here are a few examples of the answers he’s gotten from various fields and areas of expertise:

The Two Other Things about Marketing:

-Find out who is buying your product.

-Find more buyers like them.

The Two Things about Advertising:

- Get people’s attention

- Overwhelm them with charm.

Two Things about Trial Lawyering:

- 90% is just showing up (borrowed from Woody Allen’s philosophy of life).

- When you are winning, keep your mouth shut.

The Two Things about Neuroscience:

-Neurons strengthen or weaken signal strength between connected synapses.

-If you think you’ve found the part of the brain that controls _________, you’re probably wrong.

The Two Things about Writing:

- Include what’s necessary.

- Leave everything else out.

The Two Things about Editing:

- Know the rules.

- Pay attention. (2)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the Two Things Game, and why do people play it?

Challenge -  Two Things Game:  What would you say is the area or field in which you have the most expertise?  What are the two things that people need to know about that area or field?  Select an academic discipline, an area of interest (such as a hobby, sport, or pastime), a profession, a specific person, place, thing, or idea that you know well.  Then determine what the Two Things are that everyone needs to know about it.  Assume that your audience knows little about your topic, and write an explanation that goes with each of your two things. 

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

February 24, 1955:  Steve Jobs was born on this day. He said, “I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”  Bicycle for the mind - See Shortcut 154-56

Sources:

1-Burkeman, Oliver. “This Column Will Change Your Life:  The Two Things.” The Guardian 24 February 2012.

2-The Two Things by Glen Whitman

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).

                                                            Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay 

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.

Reading Check:

-What kind of behavior reveals John McEnroe’s fixed mindset?

-When a person with a growth mindset gets a test back, what do they do?

THINKER'S ALMANAC - December 16

What does it mean to think that nothing is indubitable?

Subject: Epistemology - Russell’s New Decalogue

Event:  Bertrand Russell’s essay “The Best Answer to Fanaticism - Liberalism,”1951

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -Bertrand Russell

On this day in 1951, British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote an essay in The New York Times entitled “The Best Answer to Fanaticism - Liberalism.”

Liberalism, according to Russell, is not a belief; instead, it is a disposition or attitude toward belief.  He credits John Locke as liberalism’s “great apostle” because he argued that all people should be capable of living at peace and that it was not necessary for everyone to agree.  Instead, Locke argued that all opinions should be treated as fallible and any belief should be open to question.  

Russell called into question those who argue that the truth is already known.  These people hold the opposite view of liberalism because their purpose “is not to discover truth but to strengthen belief in truths already known.”

                                                                Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

At the core of Russell’s argument is how to approach old ideas versus new ideas.  His conclusion is that all ideas should be welcomed, but at the same time, all ideas, whether old or new, should be subject to scrutiny and debate.  To help facilitate the liberal outlook, the correct epistemological attitude, Russell ends his article with what he calls a “new decalogue,” a kind of ten commandments of epistemology, in other words, ten rules that will help bring all of us closer to the truth:

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even when truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the purpose of Russell’s New Decalogue?

 

Challenge - The Best of the Ten: Read through Russell’s ten rules.  Pick the one rule that you like the best, and write a paragraph explaining why you feel that the rule is important for people who are trying to find the truth.

 

ALSO ON THIS DAY

December 16, 1906: On this day in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter to a friend explaining a recent political defeat.  Roosevelt, who won fame as a Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War and served two terms as president from 1901-1909, was not used to defeat.  He broke up monopolies, championed federal regulation of railroads, spurred the conservation of natural resources, and began the construction of the Panama Canal.  As the leader of the Progressive Movement, however, there was one reform that Roosevelt could not make happen:  spelling reform. In addition to being an age of reform, the 19th century was also a time when public education was being expanded and democratized in America.  Roosevelt, along with other education advocates, viewed spelling reform as a practical and economical way to improve education.  After all, English orthography is plagued with words that have more letters than necessary as well as inconsistent and capricious spelling rules. In March 1906 the Simplified Spelling Board was founded and funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie.  Its mission was to reform and simplify English spelling.  On August 27, 1906, President Roosevelt issued an executive order that 300 words from the Simplified Spelling Board’s list of revised spellings be used in all official communications of the executive department.  Some of the examples of changes are as follows:

 

blessed to blest

kissed to kist

passed to past

purr to pur

though to tho

through to thru

 

On December 3, 1906, Roosevelt wrote his annual message to Congress using the new spelling.  He became an easy target for criticism, however, as can be seen in the following sentence from a newspaper editorial:

[Roosevelt] now assales the English langgwidg, constitutes himself as a sort of French academy, and will reform the spelling in a way tu soot himself.

On December 13, 1906, soon after it received Roosevelt’s annual message, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution rejecting the new spellings and urging that government documents be written using “the standard of orthography prescribed in generally accepted dictionaries of the English language.” At this point Roosevelt decided to surrender.  He withdrew his executive order, and wrote a letter to his friend Brander Matthews, who was also the chairman of the Simplified Spelling Board, admitting defeat:

I could not by fighting have kept the new spelling in, and it was evidently worse than useless to go into an undignified contest when I was beaten. (2)

Sources:

1-Russell, Bertrand.  “The Best Answer to Fanaticism -- Liberalism.”  The New York Times 16 Dec. 1951.

2-Thomas V.  Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Ride Over Spelling Rules. The Wall Street Journal 16 April 2015.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - September 29

How did a psychologist’s boyhood memories of playing chess springboard a lifetime study of happiness?

Subject: Happiness - Flow

Event:  Birthday of Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, 1934

While happiness itself is sought for its own sake, every other goal – health, beauty, money or power – is valued only because we expect that it will make us happy. -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

From its beginnings in ancient Greece, one primary purpose of philosophy has been to help people live fulfilling lives. The Greeks used the word eudaimonia, which translates to the English words “fulfillment” or “happiness.”

Plato’s prescription for achieving eudaimonia began with reason.  Thinking is hard work, but it is necessary to think carefully and logically, seeking knowledge, but most importantly seeking to “know yourself.”  Long before the field of cognitive psychology was invented, Plato understood that good thinking required an understanding of the human tendency toward bad thinking: errors, prejudice, and superstition.  Plato knew that people were often led by their emotions, feelings, and instincts rather than their reason.  Furthermore, rather than thinking for themselves, people let the crowd do their thinking by adopting popular opinions, what the Greeks called “doxa.”

                                                        Plato - Image by Michael Kauer from Pixabay 

To know yourself, you must think for yourself, which means being skeptical and applying reason to both our thoughts and our emotions.

One modern person who exemplifies Plato’s method is the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced Chick-SENT-me-hi), who was born on this day in 1934.  Csikszentmihalyi's contribution to the human quest for eudaimonia is what he calls flow: a state of optimal experience in which an individual is fully and passionately immersed in an activity.  To achieve this flow state there must be a just right balance between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer.   Furthermore, in the flow state an individual becomes so absorbed in their activity that they lose themselves in it;  self-consciousness and time disappear.

To illustrate his own experience with flow, Csikszentmihalyi recounts his own experience as a 10-year-old in Hungary during World War II.  He and his family were interned by the Italians in a refugee camp.  To pass the time he played chess against adult players.  Immersing himself in the games, he discovered, allowed him to forget all his troubles (1).

For Csikszentmihalyi, happiness comes not from acquiring property, earning a lot of money, or relaxing on a sunny beach; instead, true happiness -- ecstasy even -- is achieved through the intrinsic desire to engage and immerse oneself in a challenging, exhausting activity.  Based on his interviews with more than a thousand people, including actors, athletes, doctors, and artists, Csikszentmihalyi concludes that happiness is not about extrinsic rewards, but is about intrinsic motivation: “A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening 'outside,' just by changing the contents of consciousness.”

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is flow, and how does it relate to happiness?

 

Challenge - Get Lost in the Flow:  What is the activity that allows you to enter into the flow state?  Describe the activity.  How are you able to lose yourself in it, and why does it bring you happiness?

ALSO ON THIS DAY

-September 29, 1967:  On this date in 1967, The Beatles worked to complete the recording of the song I Am the Walrus.  Known for their innovative work in the studio, the group on this day did something truly unique, blending the conclusion of their new song with a BBC recording of Shakespeare’s King Lear.

 

In addition to the Bard, The Beatles also drew inspiration from two other poetic sources.  One was Lewis Carroll's poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” which inspired the song’s title and its plentiful use of nonsense lyrics.  The second was a playful nursery rhyme that they remembered from their childhood in Liverpool:

 

Yellow matter custard, green slop pie,

All mixed together with a dead dog's eye,

Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick,

Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick.

 

This bit of rather grotesque verse inspired the colorful lyric:  “Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog’s eye.” 

-September 29, 1999:  The television series West Wing premiered an episode named for one of the most prominent of all logical fallacies: “Post Hoc.” See THINKER’S ALMANAC - October 1.

-September 29, 2009:  Padgett Powell published a novel made up entirely of questions.  It’s called The Interrogative Mood A Novel? Each sentence in the 160-plus page novel is a question.  In the novel Padgett asks roughly 2,000 questions without giving a single answer.

Sources:

Flaste, Richard.  “The Power of Concentration.” The New York Times  8 Oct. 1989.

Preview for September 30: Can you buy a mnemonic device at a hardware store?