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Psychology

A collection of 43 issues

The Best We Can Do is Responsibly Answer the Questions that Life Asks of Us

Faced with mass murder, it is hard to escape the conclusion that life has no meaning. For how could it be that life has meaning when lives matter so little? As a German Jew in a concentration camp, Viktor had to confront that question. In Man’s Search for Meaning,

Ruined by Google

Information on tap is a boon. But if it means that the only thing we will end up knowing—have in our heads—is where to go to find the information, it may also be a bane. Accessible stored cognitions are vital. They allow us to verify and contextualize new

Loss of Confidence

We all overestimate how much we know. If the aphorism, “the more you know, the more you know that you don’t know” is true, then how else could it be? But knowing more is not the only path to learning about our ignorance. Mistakes are another. When we make

Pride and Prejudice

It is ‘so obvious’ that policy A >> policy B that only those who don’t want to know or who want inferior things would support policy B. Does this conversation remind you of any that you have had? We don’t just have such conversations about policies. We

Firmly Against Posing Firmly

“What is crucial for you as the writer is to express your opinion firmly,” writes William Zinsser in “On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction.” To emphasize the point, Bill repeats the point at the end of the paragraph, ending with, “Take your stand with conviction.” This advice

Estimating Bias and Error in Perceptions of Group Composition

People’s reports of perceptions of the share of various groups in the population are typically biased. The bias is generally greater for smaller groups. The bias also appears to vary by how people feel about the group—they are likelier to think that the groups they don’t like

Unstrapped

When strapped for time, some resort to wishful thinking, others to lashing out. Both are illogical. If you are strapped for time, it is either because you scheduled poorly or because you were a victim of unanticipated obligations. Both are understandable, but neither justifies ‘acting out.’ So don’t. Whatever

Motivated Citations

The best kind of insight is the ‘duh’ insight—catching something that is exceedingly common, almost routine, but something that no one talks about. I believe this is one such insight. The standards for citing congenial research (that supports the hypothesis of choice) are considerably lower than the standards for